A History
of the family of Joseph T. Henson, from the Danish Vikings to the frontiers of
Texas and of Oklahoma.

Bob Adams

McKinney,
Texas

This
family came to the colonies from England in the 1700s, of the stock of the
Viking Danes who invaded eastern England in 850 A.D . . There are noblemen,
privateers, indentured servants among the colonial Henson figures.Efforts by several researchers to link these
colonial figures to this family search are as yet inconclusive.One link possibility would be the listing of
the 1682-3 marriage of William Henson
of Finchley, Middlesex, bachelor,about 32, to Mary Weston, spinster, about 26,
of her own disposition; alleged by Richard Howard of Finchley, registry of the Vicar General of the
Archbishop of Canterbury.We begin
our story with the family of Joseph Henson, noted in the 1790 Federal census
for Randolph County, Virginia, the probable father of John Henson (born about
1780) and his wife Ellenor (Nelly) ..?.. born about 1782, both born in Virginia
during the span of the genesis and events of the American Revolution.The search continues for the actual parental
families of these early Americans in the young Republic as various of the
colonies, including North Carolina, were considering becoming member states. Reference
the documents, in the Virginia file, entitled 18th century laws, and Virginia-NC.

.

The
parents of John and Ellenor felt the tensions of those days as General Leslie
landed with 2,200 British soldiers at Portsmouth and Newport News in October
1780 to provide a diversion in favor of Lord Cornwallis’ command, the British
Army of the South, which was moving from its bastion at the port of Charleston,
S.C. through the Carolinas to smite the rebel militia and Continentals.The British military, under General Clinton,
had recently invested the port city of Charleston and had fortified it.The goal of the Cornwallis campaign was to
encourage and incite the support of the loyalist Tories.Cornwallis grew to believe the solution lay
in Virginia and swung there in 1781 from the Carolinas and moved through
Virginia, hampered by his long supply train and a small harassing force of
Continentals directed by the Marquis de Lafayette.Those who weathered this campaign saw Cornwallis stop along the
Virginia coast and set up camp at Yorktown on the coast of the Chesapeake to
await further orders from General Clinton.Unaware that a powerful French force had embarked from the West Indies,
the British navy was content elsewhere and a surprised Cornwallis saw his
outnumbered army attacked and defeated, the first major victory of the
Continentals and their French allies.

Most
Hensons of record during that period were from Northamptonshireand so, we presume, were this young
couple.The name Henson (Hinson,
Hansen) is of Danish Viking derivation.There were some Hensons who left grinding poverty in Scotland for the
Americas in increasing numbers after the Seven Years War in Europe and its
extension in the Colonies (the French and Indian War) gave promise to the
westward and southerly expansion of the British Colonies.This expansion was felt in the Southwest
corner of Virginia and the Northwest corner of North Carolina along the valleys
of the Cape Fear and Yadkin Rivers where several hundred Scots arrived each
year during the 1770’s.To catch the
spirit of these times, we note that, to quieten the claims of the veterans of
George Washington’s 1754 Virginia regiment, one of the large chartered land
companies sponsoring development of these expansions (The Vandalia) assigned
these men a total of 200,000 acres from their much larger patent, of which
Washington ended up with 40,000 acres.Washington was not happy since his shares in the Ohio Company and the
Mississippi Company were larger than this assignment.

In
1790, North Carolina ratified the constitution and joined the new republic of
the United States of America and John and Nellie were married around 1800,
probablyin North Carolina where their
son, Joseph, was born 16 July 1801. One researcher suggests Montgomery County,
N.C. as Joseph’s probable birth place.There were about a dozen Henson families listed in North Carolina in the
first census of the United States in 1790. It is probable that this John Henson
was one of the two males under age 16, along with two males over 16, and five
females listed for family of Joseph Henson in Randolph County, N.C. in that
census. Or he may have been the John Henson Jr. listed in the 1800 Census for
Anson County, N.C. Or he may have been the John Henson, youngest son of Robert
Hinson, born 1777 in Fauquier County, reference the Virginia file on Robert of Fauquier.He is not the John Henson listed in
Rutherford County in the N. C. census of 1800, that person emigrated to
Illinois. At any rate this young couple were on the move by 1804 for their next
child to be born in South Carolina.

John and Nellie faced a virtually untracked
frontier to the west where the French, Spaniards, and a multitude of Indian
tribes held domain and claimed territory, traded, explored, and hunted. Shortly
after the birth of Joseph, they emigrated to South Carolina and then on to
Georgia by 1804. Beginning in 1776, land was offered via Headright
and Bounty Grants along the coast and the Savannah River in the Eastern portion
of Georgia. Between 1805 & 1832, as more land was needed to the West,
the Creek Nation ceded lands to the United States and lots of 202.5 acres were
drawn.John Henson drew one such lot in
Oglethorpe County in the Land Lottery of 1807, indicating that he had been in
Georgia for four years by that time. .

The U.S. Army Rolls for the War of 1812show a John Hinson enrolled variously with these three units, as a
private in the first two and as a corporal in the third: Major Smooth’s Battalion of the Mississippi Militia, the 3rd
Regiment of Winterley’s Georgia Militia, and Battalion 7 Regiment of Perkin’s
Mississippi Militia. At the
close of the War of 1812, the British left weapons with the Creek Nation and
the American armies fought a decisive series of battles with the Creeks which
resulted in the removal of the tribes to the Indian Territory (now Eastern
Oklahoma).By the early 1830s all of
the Indians had been displaced.Additional counties were created with the Six Cherokee Land
Lotteries. Each new county was divided into Militia Districts and census
records are enumerated in this format.

The 1810 Census for Baldwin County, Mississppi shows Hinson, John -
3,2,1,1 & 4 slaves, and he
later shows on the tax rolls for adjoining Clarke County in 1813.John died in Marengo County in 1844 and Ellenor
died sometime between 1850-1860. Baldwin County was created by the Mississippi
Territorial legislature on Dec. 21, 1809, from territory taken from Washington
County. Its size was altered several times before 1868, when it received its
present dimensions.Available data on
names and dates of birth of their children reaching adulthood indicate that one
child was born in North Carolina in 1801, one child was born in South Carolina
in 1803 or 4, one child was born in Georgia in 1805, and five more were born in
Alabama between 1810 and 1824.With
these data it is probable that other children were born between the listed
Georgia and Alabama births and died in infancy.

The path through Georgia and Alabama was the Federal Road, with its
route marked by axe slashes on the way through the heavy woods of the
region.Forts were set up along this
road to protect the travelers and settlers from the Creek Nation.Perhaps the most famous of these was Fort
Mims. There are instances when a member of one race openly shielded or offered
protection to their counterpart in the other race. In the midst of the
murderous raid on Fort Mims, Alabama, by Creek warriors-which resulted in the
deaths of some 500 white men, women and children-one tribesman, for reasons
best known to himself, led a white mother and her child to safety. The move
west from Georgia followed the displacement of the Creek (Muskogee) and other
tribal nations from Alabama Territory to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) after the
War of 1812.

The lure of the frontier and the promise of
free land pulled both the Henson and Thomas families to Georgia and thence to
the West.Beginning in the southern
British Colonies at the close of the Revolution, forty-five years later these
families were on the frontier in the Republic of Texas.They were a hardy lot and traveled and
settled with extended family and friends whose names would show on voter
records, censae, and other documents such as witness to weddings.

The
following data on the Georgia land lottery in 1807 were probably read with
interest by these families with the hope that the acreagerepresented would be expanded. But such was
not to be the case.There was also the
disappointment of speculation and unfulfilled promises that were leading to the
Great Yazoo Land Fraud. . The news from the West would encourage and draw those
who wanted better opportunities for their families.

1807 Land Lottery

The 1807 lottery
was for dispensing additional 202 and ahalf acre lots in original Baldwin and Wilkinson counties of Georgia . Individuals
or families who won lots in the previous land lottery were not allowed
to participate in the lottery of 1807.

Each
participant in the 1807 land lottery had to be: a. Citizen of the US and
b. Inhabitant of Georgia for at
least THREE years prior to Act of 26 June 1806.

Each
participant in the 1807 land lottery could qualify in only ONE of the
following categories:

1) Every free white male, 21 years old or older, was entitled to ONE draw.
2) Every free white male, 21 years old or older, with a wife and/or children
under
21 years was entitled to TWO draws.
3) Every widow was entitled to ONE draw.

4)
Every white female, unmarried and 21 years old or older was entitled to one
draw. 5) Every family of orphans under 21 years of age
whose father was dead , was entitled
to ONE draw.
6) Every family of two or more orphans, whose mother and father were both
dead, got TWO draws.They would be
registered in the county and district where the eldest orphan lived.
7) Every family with only ONE orphan under 21 years of age, whose mother and
father were both dead was entitled to ONE draw.

John
Henson’s will filed for probate September 16, 1844 cited these heirs: Nelly
Henson, William, John, Matthew, James, Mary (Sherwood Hammond), and Elizabeth
(Hiram Foster). Joseph had been in Texas since late 1833 and did not figure in
the will.Clement seems to have left
Alabama westward on his move to Texas and also did not figure in the will.

The
nine children, reaching adulthood, of John and Nellie Henson were:

1.JosephT. maintained that he was born 1801
North Carolina and census data support that date. He married 1828 in Marengo
County, Alabama to Mary (Polly) Thomas born 1807 in Warren County, Georgia.
Polly was illiterate as were a considerable number of those around her. He died
in Jacksboro, Texas 1887.Polly died
there also, ten years later.

2.Elizabeth Born circa 1802 or 1803 married Hiram Foster
in Marengo Co. on Feb. 13, 1825.

3.Mary (Polly) born 1804 or 1805 in Georgia married
Sherwood Hammond in 1825;

4.William born 1805 in Georgia married Hannah Gilmore
in 1829 in Alabama. William
Henson was bondsman for a Nathaniel Foster in March 1829.A son, John Gilmore Henson , was born to
them in 1832.This son served in an
Alabama cavalry Regiment during the War of Northern Aggression.He was captured on the day that Lee
surrendered and was released two months later.He moved to Texas in 1871 and his wife petitioned for a Confederate
pension there in 1909.In this petition
his property was valued at $ 300. He was living in the town of Howth in Waller
County, Texas at the time of his application.

5.John, Jr. born 1815 in Alabama, married Malinda Williamson in 1834.

6.Clement born 1818 in Alabama, married Oliss (Oliph) (Olive) Thomas
(probable relative to Joseph’s wife) on 10 Jun 1840 in Alabama. On Dec. 6,
1848, Clement & his wife sold land to his brother William. The wording was
he sells claim to the estate as one of the heirs of John Henson..A son, William H.Henson enlisted in Co. H,
36 Texas Cavalry (Confederate) Camp Rocky, June 1863 at the age of 18.Clement moved to Bigfoot, Hayes County,
Texas.This William Henson may be the
Bill Henson listed in write-ups of several trail drives. In 2000. Mary Grace
Williamson identified herself as a great grand-daughter of Clement.

7.Matthew born 1822, in Alabama, married Mary McFarland in 1842.

8.Lucinda born 1822, in Alabama, married William
Williamson in 1834.

9.James born 1824 in Alabama married Ellinoor Robertson born 1828 Choctaw
County near Butler, Alabama, 25 July 1845. Marriage records in courthouse in
Chatom, Alabama Bk.B, page 120.They
were wed by Jesse A.Wright. They had 4 children. (first wife),After her death he married Harriette
Studivant who bore him two children (second wife).They farmed in Choctaw County, Alabama.James went into the Confederate army in 1862 and, was sick with
measles and pneumonia the first year and froze to death on a battlefield.He is buried near Yazoo, Mississippi.

Between 1848 and 1852 Clement, Matthew,
Elizabeth, and Mary had sold their shares of their inherited land to their
brother William.

Note:There was a practice, on occasion, of naming the first son after his
grandfather and the second son after his father.One theory holds John being accompanied by several brothers.
There is a possibility that Joseph Henson may have been a surviving child of a
brother to John Henson, and raised in John’s household. This scenario would
yield William being named for his grandfather and John being named after his
father.

The Thomas branch to the Hensons

The
earliest we have for the family of Joseph’s wife, Mary (Polly) Thomas, begins
with John Thomas, Sr., born probably in South Carolina around 1740.His son, John Thomas Jr., Polly’s father,
was born in Georgia around 1776.Other
Thomas families are referenced by researchers as coming into Georgia from South
Carolina during those years and this very likely includes the parents of our
man John Thomas, and of his wife, Phoebe Springer, who was also born in Georgia
about the same time, according to later census data.They took a marriage license in Warren County, Georgia June 26,
1801.John was probably the brother or
nephew of James Thomas who received a grant of 322.5 acres on Ogeechee in
Hancock County, Georgia October 5, 1785 and also bought a tract of land on both
sides of Long Creek for 150 pounds sterling April 23, 1795.Richard
Whatley sold land to John Thomas in 1796 (Warren County).John ThomasSr., estate probated July 18, 1799, was probably John’s father.

Phoebe
Springer’s line probably derives through Job Springer, born circa 1745, died 1832,
locations unknown.He had a son John
Springer who married in 1809 to Miner Whatley.John and Miner had a son Elisha born 9 December 1819 in Marengo County,
Alabama. (In Warren County, Georgia in 1796, John Thomas bought land from a
Richard Whatley. This land was sold by
John and Phoebe Thomas in 1799.

Quoting
from the book “Early Settlers of
Montgomery Co., Texas”:

“Job Springer Sr. was married 3 times.A son by his first wife was Job Jr. who
married Lydia May.Their son John May
Springer married (in Marengo county, Alabama) Elizabeth Landrum.John and Elizabeth came to Austin’s colony
the same time as John and Phoebe Thomas.One family history says John and Elizabeth Springer had a daughter Lydia
who married William Thomas, the son of John and Phoebe.(other records indicate Lydia’s last name
was Neuman or Nyman.Maybe she was
widow Neuman when she married William.).(John Thomas and his son David had land dealings with a William Landrum
in Texas.William’s wife was Nancy
Gilmore.John and Phoebe’s son Simeon
married a Gilmore.Gilmores were
security on marriages of John and Phoebe’s daughters Lucinda and Mary who
married in Marengo county, Alabama.)From these close relationships, we suspect that Job Springer Sr. was the
father of Phoebe Springer.

In
1794 John Thomas Jr. sold 3 negroes to William Thomas of Hancock County
(witnessed by Josiah, Sarah, and R. Thomas, all probable siblings of
John).John bought 125 acres on Middle
Creek in 1796 for 50 pounds sterling of which he and Phoebe sold 120 acres for
150 silver dollars (possibly Spanish coinage) February 2, 1799.Both he and Phoebe made their mark in lieu
of signature on this transaction.John
is listed as executor on several probate documents during the next few years in
that county.He and Phoebe are probably
the same couple listed on a deed in Jackson County, Georgia in 1809.This was a frantic time, (1795-1814), when
many land titles in Georgia were disputed in the great ‘Yazoo Fraud’ which was
finally resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court with financial settlement by the
U.S. Congress in the amount of $4,200,000 in 1814.

The 13 children of John and Phoebe Thomas were:

1.Sentha (daughter) born 24 March 1802

2.Nancy, born 22 October 1803, died 28 August 1821.

3.Betsy, born 10 November 1805

4.Mary (Polly), born 10 December 1807, died 30 June 1897,
Married Joseph Henson 1828.

5.Lucinda, born 1 August 1810, died in Alabama circa 1831-32, married William
Morris in 1830.They had a daughter and
William came to Texas with the child when his in-laws did.

6.James Avery, born 1812-14, died 1865, married Amanda
Wheeler in 1842 in Texas.

7.John Nelson, born 18 January 1815, died after 1846-47.

8.David, born 27 December 1816, died after 10 January 1837.

9.Sylvania, born 19 March 1819, married D.P. Lang in 1849

10.Annie, born 13 September 1821

11.Samuel Andrew Jackson, born 8 June 1823, died circa 1871.Served in Orrick’s band of Frontier Rangers
in Jack County, Texas along with several of the Henson men, to protect the
settlers from Indian attack during the Civil War years.

12.William M., born 15 January 1825, died after 1870,
married Lydia in 1849.

13.Simeon, born 27 December 1827, died 1 February 1897, married Sarah Gilmore in
1853

The
latter eight children came to Texas with their parents and are noted with them
in the registry of the Austin Colony. Peter Cartwright traveled to TX with John Thomas according to rolls of
Austin Colony

John
and Phoebe began their westward trek from Georgia as the Creek Nation lost
their lands in a bitter war against U. S. military forces under General Andrew
Jackson in 1814 and the Alabama Territory was organized from the Mississippi
Territory in 1817.Alabama Territory
became a state in December of 1819.Marengo County was formed from lands of the Choctaw Nation in 1818.

The followingrather lengthy petition to the U. S. Congress in 1817 - 1818
gives a view of the politics effecting the emergence of the Alabama Territory:

Quote :

“To the Honorable the Congress of
the United States, the humble
petition of the undersigned inhabitants of the Alabama Territory
residing near the waters of the Mobile,--respectfully showeth,That your
petitioners have heard with the most serious alarm that applications
are about to be made to your honorable body by the new state of the
Mississippi for an extension of the boundaries of the said state so as
to include at least the whole of the settlements on the western side
of the Mobile & Tombigby
rivers:

Your petitioners view this proposed transfer of freeman, like the
vassals of European potentates, from one sovereignty to another, as so
repugnant to justice & so completely hostile to the principles of
republican America; that they persuade themselves it will receive from
the representatives of the people of the United States, a prompt &
indignant rejection. That venerable instrument,--the declaration of
Independence,--both established the sacred maxim that "all men are
equal"--and that "governments derive their just powers from the
consent of the governed:

But what equality of rights would exist; if the people of the Alabama
territory were to be bound down by a form of government instituted
without their co-operation by the people of the State of Mississippi?
What equality could they boast of when they found themselves subjected
to the control of governors, & bound by the ties of allegiance to a
government, without having previously had the smallest agency in the
choice of the one or the organization of the other? If the just
powers of a government can be derived only from the consent of the
governed; your petitioners have certainly a right to expect that their
inclinations will be consulted, & that some means will be provided by
which their consent may be manifested, before they are entangled in
the ties of allegiance to a new sovereignty. They have indeed a right
to expect more than this. They are as much entitled as their brethren
of the Mississippi to have a voice in determining the previous
question submitted to the convention, whether it be expedient to form
a partial state out of the Mississippi Territory? The voice of your
petitioners has been decidedly against that measure. But it has been
adopted, and they submit. But they cannot submit in silence to the
doctrine, that after its adoption, they are liable to be bound like a
band of captive slaves to the chariot wheels of triumphant majority.
They are not the inhabitants of a province acquired by conquest, or by
purchase from a foreign power. They claim the rights of original
citizens of the United States. The Alabama territory is, for the most
part, a portion of the state of Georgia, one of the old thirteen
confederated sovereignties: it is entitled by a solemn compact with the
state of Georgia to admission into the Union when its population shall
be sufficient, on "an equal (?) with the original states, in all
respects whatever, with liberty to form a permanent constitution &
state
government":

But what will become of these privileges if the people of the
territory can be transferred in parcels to the adjacent states? & how
dishonorably will the national faith be violated, if your petitioners
are stripped of that right of forming their own constitution, which
they are as much entitled to, as any of the original parties to the
federal compact! Your petitioners humbly conceive that the reasons
which they have suggested must be conclusive with your honorable body,
against any extension of the territorial limits of the State of
Mississippi:

--but there are various considerations which induce your petitioners
to be immovably hostile to the measure.

1.) It will retard the admission of the Alabama territory into the
union as an independent state:--& will considerably augment the
burdens of government, when it is admitted.

2.) considering the actual situation of the country, & the state of
its population;--the dividing line proposed to be established between
the State of Mississippi & the Alabama Territory, is the most
unnatural one that could possible be devised. It is true that in a
county where the population is regularly scattered over the whole
surface of it, a river may be regarded as a natural boundary. But in a
country where the population is confined to the vicinity of the water
courses, & the whole face of the territory besides is a wide waste; a
river, especially if it be only of a second rate in point of magnitude
becomes the most inconvenient 7unnatural boundary imaginable. Such a
boundary separates neighbors. It places under different governments
those who are in habits of daily intercourse. it facilitates the
evasion of both civil & criminal process, & multiplies the means of
rendering the laws a laughing stock to the lawless. Under the
circumstances in which your petitioners are placed, it will frequently
separate one part of a family from the other,& leave the plantation of
a citizen in one state & his mansion house in another. And what would
be gained, to compensate for these inconveniences? nothing: but the
saving of the expense of running one additional line through a country
where hundreds of thousands are already run under the authority of the
national government.

3.)--If your petitioners have been accurately informed, one of the most
impressive considerations which induced the late congress to divide
the Mississippi Territory was the danger of a collision of interests
between the two great communities living adjacent to the Mississippi,
& to the water of the Mobile. A future want of harmony in the
counsels of the new government,& perpetual feuds among the people,
were anticipated as the natural result of such a collision. But the
proposed alteration in the boundary line will renew & augment those
very dangers which the division was meant to guard against. The only
difference to be perceived is that with the limits now contemplated by
the Mississippi people, the result of every struggle between the two
communities will be that the people of the Mobile, will be made to
pass under the yoke.

4.) The rivers Tombigby & Mobile are formed by nature to be one great
channel of intercourse between the western states & the gulf of
Mexico. This channel ought to be subject to the regulation of a single
sovereignty. It should be under the superintendence of a legislature,
which will, not only be sensible of its importance, but feel an
interest in promoting its utility & affording to nature all the
needful succours of art. But will such an interest be felt by a
legislature, of which a majority of members will be elected by the
inhabitants of a country adjacent to a rival channel of commercial
intercourse? It cannot be expected. The Alabama territory as it now
stands, possesses an identity of
interest, as complete, as any state
of equal extent in the American Confederacy. Whether the people are
stationed on the Tombigby or Alabama,--on the Mobile or the Tennessee;
they are all deeply interested in bringing to perfection the same
channel of trade & commerce. But if you divide them, if you connect
one portion of them to the Mississippi, & leave the other portion of
them to themselves; you paralize their energies, & drop a cloud over
their fair prospects of future prosperity. The general interests of
the Union, call for the highest possible improvement, of every part of
it:--and the Congress of the United States will watch with the most
sedulous jealousy against every measure calculated to obstruct or
retard it. Your petitioners therefore, humbly and respectfully hope
that no proposition for making any encroachments on the Alabama
Territory, will receive any countenance from your honorable body”

–End Quote

Job Springer, John Gilmore, and several Landrums
are included in the some 520 listed signers of this petition. No Thomas nor
Henson is noted.

As the State of Coahuila of Mexico
was opened to immigrant settlement, early colonists received grants of 4,428
acres. Page 26 of"Stephen F. Austin's Register of
Families," notes John and Mary Thomas and eight of their children were
in the Austin Colony circa 1832, nine years after the colony was established.

John ‘s wife, Phoebe, died in Montgomery
Countybefore 1850 and John died sometime
after that date, before the next census.

A
David Thomas born in South Carolina about 1778 also came to Texas around 1860
and his grand-daughter married one of the sons of John and Phoebe Thomas, in
Texas.They may have been distantly
related.John and Phoebe also had a son
named David Thomas. There was another David Thomas who was a signer of the
Texas Declaration of Independence and died in the Texas Revolution.

Researchers
have earned their merit badges in tracing the whereabouts of these family
members over the period of 1832-36 as they were on the move to avoid the armies
of the President of Mexico, Santa Anna, who was determined to rid Texas of all
who were against him, fostering a Mexico formed of federated states rather than
a form of empire with all government by a centrist ruler (read ‘Santa Anna’)
seated in the capital city of Mexico.This determination focused especially on the Texican colonists.The following excerpt captures the scene of
those times:

Excerpt
from ‘the Eagle and the Raven’, James
Michener, State House Press, Austin 1990:

Page 141-

”As a reward for the rape of
Zacatecas, President Santa Anna had been promoted to the rank of
general-in-chief and given the exalted title of Benemerito en Grado Heroico,
and there was a rumor that if he succeeded in subduing the Tejanos he was to be
named Benemerito Universal y Perpetuo .

Accordingly, he spent the late fall of 1835 preparing his army for
a major assault against those infuriating dissidents who had begun calling
themselves Texicans.Almost none of the
Anglos had been born in Tejas and many had been there less than a year.He agreed with an aide who assured him;
‘They are little better than the rabble that you helped defeat at Medina in
1813.Cut-throats sprung from American
jails, adventurers who drift down the Mississippi River, corrupt traders from
Louisiana, and, I will admit, a few honest farmers from Kentucky,
Tennessee and Alabama.”

Of interest to the Thomas side of Joseph’s
marriage are the following excerpts from the book‘Indian Depredations’ ,
Wilbarger - (State House Press):

-Page 387 - in 1839 - moving from
Bois d’Arc to Bonham, Texas(North of
Dallas)- a Mr. Thomas and his
son-in-law Daugherty were attacked by Indians.

-Pages 288 and 610 - in 1838 - near
Bonham, Texas and Fort English - Andrew
Thomas was attacked by Indians and had a narrow heroic escape.

-Page 624 - in 1862 - 5 miles west
of the town of Burnet - 5 teenagers,including MarshalThomas, were
attacked by Indians.There were four
McGill boys and their cousinMarshal.

Back to John and Nellie Henson

The 1810 census of the Mississippi Territory shows John Henson in a
household of three adult males, (possibly his two brothers), one male child,
one female child, one female adult and four slaves, in Baldwin County in what
is now Southwest Alabama.He had come
far from his family home in Virginia, just in time to witness the southerly
elements of the War of 1812 and the ensuing war with the Creek Nation.John is noted as one of forty-nine voters
listed for Baldwin County in 1813. The census of 1816 finds him head of a
household with two adult males, two male children, no female child, one adult
female, and seven slaves.The 1820
census shows him as head of a household of one adult male, two male children,
one female child, and one female adult. The family settled in Marengo Co. where
John died in 1844.John's children born
in 1823, 1825, and 1827 were born in Alabama. Marengo County was created by the
Alabama Territorial legislature on Feb. 6, 1818 from land acquired from the
Choctaw Indians by the treaty of Oct. 24, 1816. The name of the county was
suggested by Judge Abner Lipscombe, and was given as a compliment to the first
white settlers, expatriated French citizens, and commemorative of Napoleon's
great victory at Marengo over the Austrian armies on June 14, 1800. The county
seat was originally known as "Town of Marengo." In 1823 the name was
changed to Linden, a shortened version of "Hohenlinden," scene of a
French victory in Bavaria in 1800. Other towns and communities include
Demopolis, where French expatriates settled and formed the Vine and Olive Colony,Myrtlewood, and Sweet Water. Various courthouse records were
destroyed by fires in 1848 and 1965.

Most settlements in early Alabama were typical of the American
frontier. The French colony at Demopolis however, is a colorful exception. A
group of Bonapartists, fearing for their lives after the fall of Napoleon,
sought refuge in the United States. Congress granted them 92,160 acres of
public land on the Tombigbee River. The settlers were to pay $2.00 per acre
within 14 years time. In 1818 the first refugees arrived from Philadelphia via
Mobile aboard the McDonough. A total of 347 were granted a quantity of land.
The principal portion of the French grant lay in Marengo County but some of it
was in Greene, including some very good lands around Greensboro. The French had
great difficulty about their location, and’ finding their settlements on land
other than their own, three times had to move from their clearings.

The colony was a failure from the start. The French were unable to grow
either vines or olives any profitable way. Furthermore, they were continually
annoyed by American settlers who settled on their lands with no legal right.
Gradually the French settlers returned to France, moved to Mobile, or joined
relatives in New Orleans until by 1830 there were few of the original families
left in the Demopolis area. While it lasted, the colony had been a bright spot
in the wilderness. They were the happy French "in the midst of their trials and vicissitudes” being in the habit
of much social intercourse, their evenings were spent in conversation, music,
and dancing. The larger portion were well educated, while all had seen the
world, and such materials were ample to afford elevated society. Sometimes
their distant friends sent them wines and other luxuries, and upon such
occasions parties were given.... The female circle was highly interesting. They
had brought with them their books, guitars, silks, parasols and ribbons, and
the village . . . resembled at night a miniature French Town…………

Many of the grantees, unfortunately for
themselves, came prematurely to their lands, they came to the trackless desert
or country, almost impervious to the approach of man, without a road or
passway; consequently, the means of transportation to their particular
allotments of land was so impracticable and expensive that many persons upon
their arrival were compelled to settle, temporarily, on their small allotments
around the town of Aigleville, where their funds were exhausted and they became
unable to make a second settlement upon their large allotment .The surveyors
report of these lands will exhibit the difficulty of passing through the
country, their notes showing that for many days they could not proceed more
than 2 or 3 miles per day. Many of us were obliged to pay as much as four or
five dollars per bushel for corn, and a proportionate price for many other
articles of provisions, which prices were very frequently doubled by the
difficulties of transportation to their residences. 40 or 50 dollars have often
been paid for a cow and calf, which can now be purchased for 8 or 10 dollars.
Thus commenced our strangers to the language, the manners, and habits of the
people of this country, we have been greatly retarded from making the rapid
progress which perhaps the citizens of the United States would have
made……………………………………..

It will be recollected that the members of
our association were chiefly composed of officers and merchants, possessing an
extremely limited knowledge of either the science or practice of agriculture;
that the region of country which they were to remove was a perfect wilderness;
and, under circumstances like these, it is to be expected that very many
unforeseen and unexpected difficulties would present themselves; and as the
common necessaries and means of support must he obtained before an entrance
could be made upon the principal object of the association (the culture of the
vine), we have, in many instances, been obliged to neglect the performance of
our contract, and yield to the more immediate and pressing demands upon our
industry for a bare competency and support in addition to those natural
difficulties under which we labored, we had other and more serious ones to
encounter.The necessity of first acquiring the means
of subsistence; the difficulty and length of time required in preparing and
clearing land for that, that the 7 years had nearly elapsed before this was
accomplished

Again many of the allotments, from their
natural locality, being within the prairie country, admit of no settlement, on
account of the impracticability of procuring water, many having dug a great
depth unsuccessfully; these still remain unsettled and unimproved. I further
will remark that for several years the colony was remarkably unhealthy,
scarcely a family escaped sickness, and many of the grantees died. ."(A. J. Pickett , History of Alabama
(Sheffield, Alabama, 1896), 663.)

From
the way early settlers were buying and selling land, one could say these
Hensons were land speculators (as were many others), in every new section of
land ceded by the Indians. If one followed cessions for the entire length of
the Tombigbee/Black Warrior River system, one would find land transactions by
these settlers until the "Panic of 1837," which burst the speculative
bubble.An 1850 July 4th toast was
"Andrew Jackson, who won his laurels in battle, and lost them in the
chair!"

Tombigbee Impressions:

Pioneering
settlers needed water, food, shelter, a place to grow a cash crop and easy
transportation to a market.The
Tombigbee/Black Warrior River drainage area was heavily wooded, had some
prairie clearings, fish and game were plentiful, and the river flowed to Mobile
(upstream, it also almost reached the Tennessee River, up the Locust or
Mulberry forks!).The lure of this
land was irresistible to land-hungry pioneers.They came in small groups at first, but soon American settlers were
expanding the "bridle-paths" through the Creek Nation to major
highways of immigration.

From
1800 to 1808, Washington County ran all the way across Mississippi Territory to
Georgia. Indians occupied most of the land.Madison Co. was created in 1809 (the eastern half of the portion above
the Tennessee River) from the Cherokee and Chickasaw cession of 1806-7.It was not uncommon for people to travel
along the Tombigbee River system, then make the short overland portage to Madison
Co.In 1809, Washington Co. was divided
into Wayne Co. (in what would become Mississippi), and Washington and Baldwin
Co.'s. (in what would become Alabama), over to the river (no longer to
Georgia).Clarke Co. was established 10
December 1812."The enabling act
did not name a county seat, and for several years courts were held in private
homes, mainly around old Fort Landrum, near the present community known as Winn
[SE ¼ of NW ¼, S18, T8N, R2E]." According to Bell's "History of
Clarke County," courts "were held in the home of John Landrum during
the years 1813-14 and 1816.John
Landrum had died during the 1816 meeting."

"
The settlement of Winn came about as a result of farmers from the Carolinas and
Georgia in search of better farming lands.Others left these same areas of the Carolinas, fleeing British Tories
---." "Early settlers coming into the Winn area in 1812 or before
includingLandrums, Valentines,
Bumpers, Reeves, Calhouns, Dotys, Robinsons, and Winns. " "--- the
early settlers of Clarke were typical pioneers.They were looking for a site for their cabins, usually near a
good spring or a small creek where they could clear a few acres of land for
corn, pumpkins and peas, and where game and fish were abundant.These pioneers owned no slaves, and this
class of men formed the army that ran the Indians out of the county.Many of them had no titles to their cabin
sites, and as soon as the wealthy citizens from the East came into the county
with slaves, many of the original settlers continued on westward and settled in
Mississippi and Texas."

The
sudden influx of greater numbers of settlers, coupled with intrigues by the
British and Spanish, led to the Creek Indian War of 1813-14.A party of "Red Sticks" (war
party) developed among the Creeks.When
it was learned that they were securing arms in Spanish Florida, a body of
Mississippi Territory Militia "attacked the returning party at a bend of
Burnt Corn Creek.After an initial
success, the Militia became occupied with spoils, and were routed by a Red
Stick counterattack.Terrified by Red
Stick success at Burnt Corn Creek, the Alabama pioneers left their cabins for
refuge in the nearest frontier fort."Unfortunately, that was Fort Mims (a hastily erected one-acre stockade
around the home of Samuel Mims.On 30
Aug 1813, most of the five hundred fifty-three settlers were killed by a war
party of over one thousand Red Sticks.

The
loss of Fort Mims promoted expeditions against the Red Sticks from Tennessee,
Mississippi, and Georgia and the building of forts as places of refuge."Chief among the forts was Ft. Madison
at Manila, where troops were trained.Other forts in Clarke Co. were Ft. Sinquefield at Whatley, Ft. White at
Grove Hill, Ft. Turner at West Bend, Ft. McGrew near Salitpa, Ft. Landrum and
Ft. Mott near Winn, Ft. Carney below Jackson, Ft. Easley at Woods Bluff, Ft.
Powell at Oven Bluff, and Ft. Glass south of Suggsville."General Andrew Jackson's Tennessee
Volunteers, aided by Chickasaws, Cherokees, and some Creeks, had victories at
Talladega, Tallasehatche, Enitachopco, and a stalemate at Emuckfau.Gen. Claiborne's men, assisted by Choctaws,
defeated a Red Stick force under William Weatherford (Red Eagle) at Holy
Ground.In Feb. 1814 Jackson led his
men against an entrenched Red Stick force at the Horseshoe Bend of Tallapoosa
River.Almost one thousand Red Stick
warriors were killed, breaking the back of the Rebellion.Creeks surrendered almost one-half of the
present state of Alabama in August 1814.In 1813, the U. S. had captured Mobile from Spain, extending full control
over West Florida.

In
1815, the huge Monroe Co. was formed from the ceded lands (the northern portion
was made into Montgomery Co. in 1816).In 1818, new areas were added, now connecting Alabama Territory from the
Gulf Coast to the Tennessee border. The
Territory expanded from seven counties to twenty-one counties.Of special interest was the formation of
Marengo Co. and Tuscaloosa Co. on the eastern banks of the Tombigbee River,
across the river from the

The
next major cession by the Indians, in 1823, resulted in the formation of Walker
Co., thus filling in the Black Warrior River valley with land for
immigrants.In 1829, Montgomery, St.
Clair, and Shelby Counties were expanded to the Georgia border by Indian
cessions.By 1832 most of the Indians
had moved west; although a few chose to stay, under the treaty's option."The signing of the Treaty of Dancing
Rabbit Creek did not immediately result in an influx of settlers.The Choctaws had to be removed; the Indians
and other claims on land under the treaty had to receive their titles, and land
needed to be surveyed.--- In 1833 the
federal government announced that the land would be sold ---The St. Stephens
land office was the office for the sale of most of the land that would make up
Sumpter Co.The residue was attached to
the Tuscaloosa land district and sold there."The Sumpter Co. commissioners met at Fisher's Store, selected an
adjacent area as the county seat, naming it Livingston."Many settlers had already staked
claims before the land sales began.The
fifty Choctaws had their lands, and whites or half-breed squatters had grabbed
land at various spots, usually near the Tombigbee River.--- During the next thirteen months,
pioneers purchased over half of what would become the county.Early settlers described the land as an
almost unbroken forest, with patches of prairie land. --- Although stages were
running regularly in the county by 1838, the settlers continued to prefer water
routes."They used canoes, skiffs,
bateaux, flats and barges to carry cotton, lumber, and produce down streams to
the Tombigbee.--- In 1836, 20,000
bales of cotton went through Livingston to Moscow, a landing on the
Tombigbee.About that time, the towns
were becoming more civilized.Livingston outlawed houses of ill fame, the firing of guns, or brawling
in the city limits, required liquor dealers to keep their doors closed, and
forbade anyone from breeding horses in public, or allowing hogs to run loose.

When
President Jackson introduced his "Specie circular," it was as if
someone had removed the props from the economy of the country, resulting in the
"Panic of 1837," and it deeply affected this region.Many settlers sold their land and property
to more successful planters, and moved west, often to Texas.

Back to
the Hensons:

Polly Thomas Henson scrawled a note
in the margin of her son Asa’s cattle tally book much later in Texas, that she
was ‘borned’ on a farm near Warren, Georgia in 1807 and later lived near Milry,
Alabama then on to Montgomery County , Texas when Texas was still part of the
Republic of Mexico. She and Joseph Henson were married in Marengo County,
Alabama in 1828.Their first child was
born there in 1829.

The
lure of large grants of land in Tejas was strong. The publicity for the various
colonies had reached Alabama.Joseph
and Mary Henson followed the trail of her parents and siblings and other
Alabamans to the colonies in Tejas, by the ferry across the Sabine River in
December 1833, with two small children.Joseph apparently returned for a while to Alabama where he proved his
homestead in 1835.

Returning
to Tejas, Joseph served with Sam Houston’sVolunteer Army, from March 12 to June 12, 1836 on duty with Co.D which
was formed on March 12th under command of lst Lt. J. S. Collard and
Captain William Ware, in the2nd
Regiment under Colonel William Sherman for which Joseph was paid $24 by the
Republic of Texas on April 29, 1837.He
received a bounty grant of 320 acres in 1840 as a result of this service.This company, known as the San Jacinto
Volunteers, was in action at the crucial Battle of San Jacinto, April 21, 1836
that captured the President of Mexico, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, and won
independence for the Republic of Texas. Joseph Henson is listed among the 35
men of this unit, and noted as being on furlough 18 April, to return 1
May.We have no information on the
reasons for his absence, but he missed the musket balls, bayonets, knives,
sabers, and cannonade of the most critical event in Texas history, when the
people of Mexico, North and East of the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande) and South of
Wyoming, became the Republic of Texas with signature of a treaty by the
President of Mexico, General Santa Anna.There were seven hundred eighty three members of the Army of Tejas hidden
from the much larger army of Santa Anna that day, but rapidly assembled by Sam
Houston.Other than Sherman’s uniformed Kentucky volunteers, the soldiers were
dressed in tattered jeans and mud-caked buckskin.Seguin commanded a group of nineteen Tejanos, and there were two
free Negros, scout Hendrick Arnold and Dick the Drummer.One hundred seventeen of these men owned
land in Texas and ten of the fifty-nine signers of the Texan declaration of
independence were there, led by Houston and Rusk..This army had solid colonists along with many cursing, hard
drinking adventurers with no education or property – some of whom could not
even sign their names.Sherman,
Millard, and Hoxley stood with their men, awaiting Houston’s order.Burleson and Lamar led the mounted charge.Largely outnumbered by the Mexican army, the
Texicans attacked before the Mexicans really knew they were there, capturing
President Santa Anna. On the Mexican side, casualties were approximately six
hundred Mexican soldiers killed and a similar number wounded.On the Texan side, casualties were nine dead
and thirty seriously wounded. Houston took a musket ball through his ankle.

Mary Henson was a witness to the will of Daniel E. Baylis in 1836 in
Washington Co., Texas. Joseph Henson also gave oath regarding this will.We do not know the date and whether this
related to the furlough mentioned in the preceding paragraph. .

On
November 19, 1838, Josephexercised 135
acres of his military bounty grant in Nacogdoches County.These acres were surveyed but not
patented.He then exercised 185 acres
in nearby Angelina County which also were not patented. The Census of the
Republic of Texas in 1840 lists Joseph in Montgomery County with 320 acres of
land and 55 head of cattle.There were
problems between these new settlers and those who held Spanish land
grants.One family settled in and found
themselves in a dispute ten years later with a Spanish land grant claim.In 1842 there were more Indians in
Montgomery County than white men. Mexican soldiers had just arrived in the
Mission San Antonio and Houston was anxious to move the capitol from Austin to
Washington on the Brazos.Montgomery
County was divided in 1846 into three counties (Montgomery, Grimes, and
Walker).

Horton’s History of Jack County gives this excerpt for one family on the
move:“We moved from Montgomery to Smith county, near Tyler in 1848.Seven years later agents came to us advising
that we were on a Spanish Land Grant and would have to move.The case was in Federal Court.The father decided to move out before his
goods were confiscated so we took 150 head of cattle, shelled 10 bushels of
corn and put it in the wagon, put in 200# of bacon, tied a big basket of
chickens on the back end of the wagon, loaded our little handful of household
goods and drifted west to a point east of Finis, 80 miles to the post office in
Birdsville, Tarrant county.In 1856 we
signed a petition to give a county where Jack County is.The petition was granted July 4, 1857.”

The
practice of settling differences by personal encounters, by fighting, shooting,
stabbing, or dueling made the task of public prosecutors difficult.There are presently some 35 boxes of court
records for Montgomery County available for the years when the Hensons were
resident in that jurisdiction.These
are stored in the old jail in Conroe.The following few cases were hurriedly copied from documents in 3 of
these boxes.If the pattern holds
throughout these records, Joseph Henson was a colorful figure in a populace
where each one probably generated their own share of such cases.

There are deed records in the early Republic of Texas governance of
Montgomery County relating to the deposition of a colonist headright reserving
640 acres for Joseph Henson.

“12
March 1836

Benjamin Rigsby and wife, Catharina Rigsby to
William F. Young MUNICIPILITY OF WASHINGTON: $600 league bounded by lands
ofZachariah Lundrum, Owen Shannon,
Jesse Beck, William Landrum. Land known as Benjamin Rigby headright. Reserves
1/2 of undivided league for heirs of Thomas Taylor "which they gave him
for furnishing money to clear out
of the Office." Further reservation made of 640 acres for JosephHenson's benefit. 25 acres reserved for
Charles Stewart.

There
are court documents for Montgomery County concerning a robbery charge against
Joseph Henson in 1839 for which the constable Nathan Drake was cited for
negligence in letting Joseph go back to his house rather than being in jail1
July 1839.It is not clear as to ensuing
action however there is a document instructing the sheriff to sell such of
Joseph Henson's goods as necessary to satisfy a judgment of $87.25 in court
costs for some case.The sheriff
responded with a note on the document that no sale was taken on this execution
for want of bidders5 October 1841.

There
are court documents for Montgomery County referring to a libel charge by Joseph
Henson and Lem G. Clepper against John Leigh in the spring term of the court in
1843 and 1847.The libelous statement
was "There has been nothing amiss
since you gave over killing my cattle and burying them"."You are a cattle thief.You are killing them now & you have been
a thief ever since you was born."Joseph won the case.

There
are court documents for Montgomery, fall term 1839 for the following assault
charge with intent to kill brought against Joseph Henson by James Thomas,
Joseph's brother in law.

Mr. Thomas’ petition of March 20, 1839: “I was riding the road by Joseph Henson’s
and stopped with the children, talking to them. Joseph Henson was ploughing
near the house.When I was about to
start off, Joseph Henson came running to the house and called out to me to
stop.But believing that he was mad
with me previous and from threats that I had heard of his making on me of
taking my life,I thought proper to go
on and Henson ran into his house and came out inthe yard again with his gun in his hand and presented his gun at
me.And I do verily believe that his
gun missed fire or he would have shot at me, and by that means made my escape”

Mr.
Thomas’s petition of May 27, 1839: “I was
riding on horseback in Montgomery County near Caney Creek, where I saw Joseph
Henson in the vicinity. He was armed with gun, pistol, and bucher knive. When I
came up to where Henson was, he commanded me to get down and said if I did not
he would shoot me.I got down and,
being forced by Henson to divest myself of a pocket knive the only weapon he
had, Henson commenced the assault with blows. I was beaten to the ground and did
not see Henson use a knive.”

James Thomas (his mark)

A year later the parties agreed to dismiss
the suit, with Joseph to pay costs of the suit to Mr. Thomas.

There
are court documents for Montgomery, November 1846 reflecting a

judgment against James H. Price to pay the
amount of $139.40 to John

Landrum for the use of Joseph Henson in the
amount of $68.70.This seems to have

something to do with the payment of Republic
of Texas tax by Mr. Price.

Joseph
and his young family were found in the 1850 Censusin Leon County, Texas with nominal holdings of stock animals and
a few slaves. But this was not to be the end of Joseph’s contribution to the
history of Texas. Texas, with large area and scant population, had joined the
United States in 1845.That action and
the expansionist spirit prevailing in the United States precipitated war
between the United States and Mexico through 1846.To the Texas Ranger companies were added military forts along the
Texas frontier over the next twenty years as it expanded into what had been
part of Mexico up to that time.Eventually this border reached the Rio Grande and El Paso.The Western plains of Texas were populated
with thousands of hostile Comanche, Apache, and Kiowa, as well as outlaws and
Mexican Comancheros who worked with these Indians. There were true frontiersmen
beyond the military zone but settlers moved in only after there was military
protection and where they could find water.Texas was growing along the river valleys.The future of the dry High Plains was not bright until those
problems were solved.The coming of the
windmill encouraged the movement of families.

Joseph
and his family had arrived in Texas December 1833, by virtue of such date
receiving a First Class Headright of 1 league and 1 labor (4,600 acres).There was evidently friction between him and
his in-laws.There were also problems
with owners of the 27,000,000 acres of Spanish Land Grants which limited areas
for settlement in Southeastern Texas.These
grants were expressly guaranteed by Texas lawmakers. In order to exercise his
Headright, Joseph and his family moved on in the frontier to an area where
public land was still available. His one league and one labor headright (4,600
acres) was ultimately surveyed on land situated along the waters of Carroll
Creek, a tributary of the Trinity River, and recorded January 1, 1855 at Alton,
Denton Land District.This record was
moved to the newly established Land District for Jack County in 1858.

The Great Comanche Raid of 1840 was the boldest and most concerted
Indian depredation in the history of Texas. The raid resulted in two of the
bloodiest and most significant Indian battles Texas ever witnessed. Some 600
Comanche and Kiowas swept down from the Hill Country and made surprise attacks
on Victoria and the seaport of Linnville. Many settlers were killed and much
property was destroyed. The Indians were pursued by Texan forces, surprised and
overwhelmed at the battle of Plum Creek. After growing up in the Indian wars of
the Georgia-Alabama region and fighting for the independence of Texas from
Mexico, Joseph was an Indian fighter to the rank of Captain for much of twenty
years after the Republic of Texas was born.

He
fought the Comanche and Kiowa tribes, Comancheros, and outlaws as the frontier
in Texas expanded westerly from the original colonial settlements.He continued this career of Indian fighter
around 1852 at Fort Graham, Texas, (on the east side of the Brazos River, 14
miles west of Hillsboro), where the immigrant road led West to California.Early in this period Dallas was a trading
post with one log cabin and a ferry boat across the Trinity River.From there he moved on to Fort West at Decatur
(now Wise County) Texas.And finally he
was at Fort Richardson (on Lost Creek, half a mile south of Jacksboro,
Texas).He was badly wounded in a
battle with Indians near Newcastle in Young County, Texas.By 1853 the military post of Fort Worth was no
longer on the frontier and was abandoned. . By 1857, the frontier was 100 miles
west of the villages of Dallas and Waxahachie, but the sounds of swinging axes
and rattling wagons were few, due to the murderous presence of the Comanches.During the War of Northern Aggression
1861-65, as many of the men went to war, the frontier moved back a hundred
miles due to the tribal attacks of the plains Indians.By 1875, as the Indian Wars closed with the
slaughter of ponies in the Palo Duro Canyon, the Comanche were on reservation in Indian Territory (Oklahoma).

His wife bore him nine children of
whom two daughters were born in Alabama and the rest on the move along the
frontier in Texas.

These nine children were:

Daughter Elizabeth A. (Lizzie) born6 July 1829 Marengo County, Alabama, Died 22 March 1875 in
Jack County, Texas. Married James J. Dorsey, later married James S.
Lauderdale.. Lauderdale was killed by Indians near Jacksboro 1867.Elizabeth had 6 children by Lauderdale:
Mary, William Thomas, Margaret, Amira, Jeremiah John, and Effie Blanche
Lauderdale. (Matthew Ellison b. 1869 Anderson county S.C. married Effie
Lauderdale)Effie died 1895. Matthew Ellison worked at a livery stable,
then had the job of driving the mail hack from Jacksboro to Weatherford,
TX for 4 or 5 years. He then married Effie Blanche Lauderdale, and to this
union four children were born: Bertha May, Willie Martin, Ruby Blanche,
and Nettie Lee. In May of 1893, Matthew Ellison and his family left in a
covered wagon, with 9-10 horses and 10-15 head of cattle, for Greer
County, Texas. They traded some of their livestock and $300 in cash for
land owned by Tom Lauderdale and Scheler Richardson, in the vicinity of
what we know now as Spring Creek. An Ellison family history by a family member:.“This is an attempt too make some kind of record or family history
of Matthew Greenlee Ellison who was born near Belton South Carolina Feb.
25 – 1861 he was one of 5 children born in that family.

Before I proceed with Matthew
Greenlee Ellison I will give some of the background of this family I will take
that from the family history written by Carl Grayson Ellison in the years 1954
– 1962.

Now we will begin with Matthew
Greenlee Ellison’s family his father was William M. Ellison, his grandfather
Captain Miles Ellison, and his great grand father James Ellison, Jr., his great
great grandfather James Ellison, Senior.

What I have given up to now is just
names, heads of familys, and number of children and some dates.**Carl G. Ellison the writer of the book “Mile
Ellison and his decendants” has given several accounts and happenings all down
the line.I will give a few of these,
first will be Captain Miles Ellison in regard too what should be paid into the Missionary
Baptist Church for Home and Foreign Missions they split up, some one way, some
another but the next year they all come back under one head the Missionary
Baptist Church which Miles had led in organizing this church was part of the
South Carolina Baptist Convention and the Foreign Missionary Society.The Big Creek Baptist Church stands today as
a testimony of this man’s conviction about missions.

Another incident was the Land Grants
for Services rendered the Government.

Another is the listing of a farm
sale by James Ellison, Jr.’s wife after his death.The inventory of the estate reads:

1 mare and colt$110.00

30 head of hogs$60.00

1 horse and sorrel$70.00

1 horse a Bay Stud$80.00

1 Young black mare$50.00

150 barrels of corn$300.00

foder (fodder) stalk and shacks$26.00

14 head of cattle$72.00

17 head ofgees
(geese)$8.50

3 set geir$6.50

1 logg (log) chain$3.00

2 pots and 2 ovens$9.00

tools$13.00

1 reel and wheel$3.00

2 hide racks$2.50

4 bee stands$7.00

Pewter and tin$12.00

1 loom and tarkling$2.00

Wooding and vesels$9.00

Cubert and furniture$10.00

1 table anc 6 chairs$3.00

1 bed and furniture$10.00

1 bed and furniture$18.00

1 chest$1.00

3 sadles (saddles)$20.00

3 cotton wheels$3.00

1 Negro girl$300.00

1 Negro girl$270.00

1 Negro boy$300.00

1 Negro boy$200.00

14 head of sheep$21.00

$2,017.50

This
sale was in 1875.

Now I will began with
our Dad Matthew Greenlee direct family none of which know but very little.We know Uncle Bill had 2 boys.One we all knew as Cousin Bud Ellison the
other Hayden Ellison.

We have no record of
Lawrence’s family or Molly’s but his brother John had 4 boys and of course
Matthew Greenlee had 15 children.Each
of these will give their individual account of their life and family.

All that I know about
Dad’s early life is what he told me, his life at home from birth to age 13
didn’t cover much, he told ofhis play
mates Kelly and we find Harve Kelly was a cousin to Dad.Another incident a young Negro slapped Dad
then ran, then Dad’s brother John ran in the house for the gun and shot the
Negro, Dad thought in the leg.

At the age of 13 Dad
left Belton, South Carolina. With a family headed west his job was to care for
the teams, get wood and water when they camped.They got as far as Alabama or Georgia and tied up for the winter
but before the winter was over he found other means of travel and finally got
to the Mississippi River.Then the
hardest part was on west to Jacksboro, Texas.This trip covered abut 3 years, as Carl G. Ellison states that the last
account they had of Dad was at the age of 16 at Jonesburrow and he must have
meant Jacksboro, Texas.That is when he
wrote home and felt he would be there long enough to hear from home.His first job at Jacksboro was working at a
new one stand gin, he and another fellow carried the cotton in big hampers or
baskets to feed the gin.After working
the first day they were hungry and broke or almost, the man gave Dad $0.15 said
go to the grocery store get 3 dozen eggs, they were $0.05 per doz.Dad always laughed about eating hard boiled
eggs for 2 days.

His next job was at a
livery stable then the job of driving the mail back from Jacksboro to
Weatherford, Texas. This job lasted 4 or 5 years, then he got married to Effie
Blanche Lauderdale, and to this union 4 children were born.Bertha May, Willie Martin, Ruby Blanch ad
Nettie Lee.But before we go further I
should give some account of the Lauderdale family.They were early settlers in Jack County, Texas on Carrols Creek
near Jacksboro.Some few years before
this time a band of Cheyenne Indians raided the place just before sunrise,
Granddad and Grandmother Lauderdale were killed.Uncle Tom Lauderdale gathered the 4 children in the cellar the
house, barn and everything was burned and most of the horses and cattle were
stolen.

After that Uncle Ace
Henson taken charge of everything.The
4 children were Uncle Tom Lauderdale and Aunt Mary Lauderdale (Young), Uncle
Jerry, and Effie Blanche Lauderdale who Dad married.

At this time I will give
some account of the trip or the move from Jacksboro, Texas to the present old
home site where all the Ellison children were reared, Dad and Mother with 3
small children left Jack County, Texas in a covered wagon with a good team of
horses, 1 saddle horse, and 8 or 10 head of brood mares and about 10 – 15 head
of castle they left sometime in May and arrived at the old home site in August
1893.

I can still remember the
names of some of the horses, John and Bill were the team, Dollie the sorrel
mare was the saddle horse and old Mollie, Old Paint and Baldy.

Now it is necessary to
give some account of how he came by or got possession of the Old Home Place
this he traded some horses some cattle and $300.00 in cash to Uncle Tom
Lauderdale and the joining east quarter of land he got from Shiler Richardson.
Settled on Timber Creek close to where Doxie is or did stand.

The Spring Creek School
was built in 1892.Mrs. Shadden was the
first teacher and her husband was Postmaster at Mangum, so you can see someone
had to attend school I will give a list of part of them Callie, Cassie, Dude
and Willie Henson and the Armbruster children, George Huff and his 2 sisters,
the Beesons and Bell children.

Now I will give the
names of some of the early settlers, the Armbrusters, Hensons, Ebb Howard, Bill
Jackson, Paten Huff, Cross Huff, Charley Churchhill, Bells, Beasons, John
Plunkett, Perry Parish and George Groff and Ben Groff lived South and East of
Carter.

There had been some
disputes as too boundary lines when we came to the settlement it was Greer
County Texas and North Fork of Red River was considered the boundary line,
Oklahoma and Texas were in a lawsuit regarding the boundary lines then we were
in Oklahoma when the case was decided in favor of Oklahoma just too show how
one moves around I will give an account of the Ellison place.

We lived in 2 states, Texas and Oklahoma,
Oklahoma territory, Greer County and Beckham County and Spring Creek School
district, Delhi School District and now Sayre School District.So you see that is 2 states, 1 territory, 2
counties, and 4 school districts and never moved out of the same house.This history is given too show what Matthew
Greenlee Ellison went through on an Oklahoma farm. Our Mother (Effie Blanch
Ellison) died Jan 22, 1895 leaving one infant and 3 other small children.” End
of Ellison family history.

Mrs. Tuck Cornelius, nee
Sarah Newman, was Amira's step-aunt. After Elizabeth Henson Lauderdale died,
Evert Johnson, a fairly prominent man in Jacksboro, adopted Amira. Evert's wife
was the sister of Sarah Newman. When Sarah & her husband, Tuck Cornelius,
moved to Amarillo, their daughter, Maeve, was the first white child born in
Potter Co. Their house is a landmark in Amarillo

Daughter
Phoebe born about 1832 died about 1861, also married a Lauderdale(1) then
Rev. David Joseph Smith(2). She had three children by Lauderdale : Mary E., Sarah J., Simpson Joseph(died young)
Lauderdale and two children by Smith: Alfred GrandersonSmith and a daughter who married Mose
Rhoades. Phoebe appears to have been named after her grandmother.

Son John H. born 1839, married Nancy J. of Kentucky, (same age). They
lived inLimestoneCounty, Texas and had three children:John H. (born 1858), Mary E. (born c.1862),
andRobert M. (born c.1865)

Daughter
Julia Etta born about 1840.Married
Samuel Pate Thomas, born about 1838 in AL or SC, son of John C. Thomas. Samuel
Pate died in Civil War in Nov. 1861 in hospital in Richmond, VA. Julia
apparently died before 1870 as her 2 children were living with her brother,
John A. Henson, in Limestone County at that time.These 2 children were Emily J., born about 1856, and Asa Pate
Thomas, born 1860, died 1944 in Tarrant County, Texas.. Emily married Nathan T.
Holt, son of James K. Holt & Elizabeth Fortner(?). Daughters of Emily &
Nathan were 1.Etta & 2. Leola.

In 1880,
Asa Pate Thomas & wife, Mary A., were living in Jack Co. In 1881 he was in
Limestone Co., TX.

Son
Asa Lewis born 21 March 1845 Montgomery County, Republic of Texas.Died 1920 in Panhandle, Carson County,
Texas.Married 1865 Jacksboro, Texas to
Julia Ann Dean Jay who was born in 1836, Red River County, about the time of
the Texas Revolution.Julia died in
1906

.

Son
Joseph T. born 6 December 1846 in Montgomery County, Texas

Son Andrew J. born circa 1848 in Texas and
married Elizabeth Hensley in Jack CountyTexas. They had three sons and three daughters. Jack Henson was on the
school board for Urbana School when it was first started. "It was a
subscription school, in which people donated money to pay the teacher. School
was in session for two or three months in the summer and winter." Urbana
was about 5 1/2 miles north of Willow, at first in Old Greer County, but now
would be in Beckham. Mr. Jack Henson hired a private tutor to teach his
children until the school was built." In an article about the community of
Moravia "There was also a pump station down the railroad tracks about two
miles north that was called the Moravia water station. It was located at the
west side of the Jack Henson farm." Moravia was about 4 miles north of
Willow (Greer County) and was just over the county line in Beckham County.

The obituary follows for their son: Herbert Edgar "Hub” born1895 in Greer
County, Texas. Married Eva L. Smith 1925 in Marked Tree, Arkansas.Died 1988. Buried Carter, Beckham
Co.,Oklahoma where they had lived most of their married life.Hub graduated from the Kansas City
Conservatory of Music and The School of Mines, worked as a mechanic when he was
young and later farmed the land that he was born on.He fought in France and was wounded during World War 1, served
Carter as Mayor and councilman, and was an avid hunter. He left a daughter,
Alma Jo Jenkins, two granddaughters and five great-grandchildren, one sister,
Jane Blass, of Oklahoma City, and a host of nieces and nephews.

Joseph and Mary were
in Lavaca County , Texas for the 1850 census.

Joseph and Mary Henson and their young children were now a part of the
hard times in Texas where the story is told of these heartfelt remarks of a
grandmother in a letter to her family in Tennessee “Texas is all right for men and dogs, but hell on women and horses”.The more hearty among the males with their
healthy and humorous outlook on life found an emotional escape in enormous
numbers of practical jokes. Men chewed tobacco and smoked cigars.Older women were often pipe smokers and many
of the young females dipped snuff. East Texas communities grew and prospered
despite thedevastating national panic
of 1837. Beginning in the 1840’s, the
cow business was swelling to an industry of importance.Texas had land and livestock but little
money.The trails to market with cattle
and horses saw the money packed in the bottom of ox-carts moving back into Texas.
The War of Northern Aggression drove most of the settlers out of Jack county
and Indian raiders moved almost 35,000 head of cattle from the high plains to
Union Army buyers in Kansas.

From 1787 on, the Jacksboro area lay on the
Spanish route from San Antonio to Santa Fe. In 1832 there were five to six
hundred trappers on the headwaters of the five rivers in this region. In 1841
the Jack County area formed a part of a twenty-six county land grant known as
the Peter’s Colony which was enabled by “An Act Granting Land to Emigrants”
signed by acting president of Texas, David Burnett on February 5, 1841.Texas needed immigrants and it needed
money.This settlement was exceedingly
difficult due to Indian attacks and not until some thirteen years later was the
grant surveyed for record.It covered
the western one third of what became Jack County. The eastern two thirds of
Jack County were opened to settlement under the General Homestead Act of
1853.The new settlers were not too
careful in respecting the surveyed lands that belonged to the Peter’s group now
known as the Texas Emigration and Land Company who had bought it for twelve
dollars a square mile (640 acres).The
shaky little Republic of Texas offered little help to the enterprise.Jack County was formed from Cooke County, by
the Texas Legislature August 14, 1856.These relative values are of interest:The blue collar wage in New York in 1850 was $1.50 to $2 per day.College tuition at the Eastern Schools was
$200 per year.A doctor’s visit cost $5
when one could be found.A
Transatlantic fare (one way) cost $60."

The
first Indian raid on Jacksboro occurred in the Spring of 1858 with the
devastation and slaughter of two families by a band of Kiowa and Comanches from
the Fort Sill reservation.Twenty men
pursued the Indians and recovered two small children.No one, white or Indian, understood the rapid settlement of the
plains.Pressures continued to build
from 1825 to 1860 in North Texas as thousands of displaced Indians arrived from
the eastern United States and settled on Comanche and Kiowa hunting ground,
forced out by the white people east of the Mississippi.

Jacksboro township was settled in 1857 and
Joseph and Mary raised their family and dwelt there for forty years until Mary
died in 1897.We draw from the rich
stories of the ‘History of Jack County’
to relate the life there for this family.Jack County has a special place in Texas history.The frontier should have swept through the
county in ten years as it had all across the American Continent.But the march stopped here and Jack County
steeped in the frontier period for twenty-five years.

After
Texas joined the United States in 1845, Texans expected the federal government
to protect them.But it was a futile
hope.In the treaty with Mexico in
1848, the United States gained about 20,000 Indians on the Great Plains and in
New Mexico but had an army unprepared to deal with them.These plains and desert Indians were
different from the settled, agricultural eastern Indians who were handled in
their villages.The nomad Comanche,
Apache, Cheyenne, and Kiowa could “fold their tents and silently steal away.”

The
federal government built a line of forts stretching from the Red River to the
Rio Grande.Fort Belknap in what is now
Young County was one of these scattered forts.Though soldiers rode daily patrolsbetween the forts, raids grew steadily worse reaching as far south as
the Austin area.When settlement
reached Jack County in 1854, Indian attacks had become violent.The deadly raids lasted through 1874.A nationally important part in the final American
Indian wars took place in Jack County.

Huddled
in their cabins on bloody full moonlit nights, settlers could not see the whole
picture of the Indian wars, and the later telling of their stories reflects
their fear and confusion.

From the History
of Jack County-

“
The first Indian trouble for the Henson homestead (1856)—Sister and Alfred were
in the cow pen, milking, early in the morning.Sister, then a good big girl, fifteen or sixteen years old, Alfred
eight—Sister milking.Alfred holding
the calf off—they heard horses.Alfred
thought theywere soldiers.Sister looked up and said, “They are
Indians!Run!”She ran to the house and reported;Alfred stayed where he was.Grandpa (Joseph) came to Alfred.A little later A.J. Henson and a Negro man
whom Grandpa had raised also came to them.Grandpa told them to go back and load the guns.This they did and returned at once and began
shooting at the Indians. One Indian came closer than the others, Grandpa
snapped his gun at the Indian—had failed to load --- worked the lever of his
gun, fired, the Indian fell from his horse, dead.His horse stopped in a jump or two, the Indians rushed up around
the dead Indian, sheltering themselves by lying on the opposite side of their
horses from us, picked up the dead Indian, placed him on his horse and rode
away.The fight was over.

The next Indian
trouble was when twenty-five or thirty Indians came within 200 yards of our
house, between daylight and sun-up.Uncle Jack (A.J. Henson) and Negro Wash began shooting at them.Grandpa came out of the house, fired one
shot and an Indian fell dead.That
ended the fight, the Indians, as before lying on the opposite sides of their horses
from us, circled the dead Indian, loading him on his horse, and vanished.Uncle Jack was wounded twice, once with an
arrow and once with a bullet in Indian fights, neither serious.”

The
War of Northern Aggression delayed development along the frontier, and Indians
on Oklahoma reservations marveled to see the white men fight each other, but
quickly realized that the isolated settlements were easy prey.Many of the frontiersmen who joined the
Confederate army moved their families back to safety.As troops moved back to eastern battlefields, settlers fled from
Young, Archer, and Clay counties.But a
band of determined settlers clung to Jack county.These settlers—merchants, cattlemen, cowboys, a few farmers, and
families of Confederate soldiers—saw their supply lines and contact with
eastern and southern Texas broken.Though the market for cattle during this Civil War was good, Indians
harassed cowmen who tried to run cattle on lush grass of the country. The
roster for June 25, 1864 of Captain Orrick’s Company B of Texas State Troops
notes J. T. Henson as 1st Sergeant, William S. Henson as 1st
Corporal, A. L. Henson as a Private, S.A. J. Thomas as 2nd Corporal,
and J. S. Lauderdale as a Private.Their muster cards are on file in the Texas State Archives in
Austin.These troops were organized in
addition to Texas Ranger units for several years during and after the War of
Southern Independence. This was a somewhat loosely organized home guard militia
group organized in 1861 and later as provided by the Texas legislation of
December 1863 to protect the Jack County settlers from the Indians.

After
the War, reconstruction brought new people to Jack County.These were Union Army soldiers, some of whom
were former slaves.Fort Richardson,
for a time , was the largest army post in the United States in numbers of
men.This fort brought half a million
dollars a year into Jacksboro over a five year period.Armed bands of outlaws, protected by the
confusion of Reconstruction, banished law and order.These outlaws openly boasted they could buy enough men to swear
to anything.Legal authorities indicted
and arrested large numbers of men for murder, theft of horses and cattle, and
assault with intent to kill.Yet not
one single conviction for murder was obtained until the court tried Satanta and
Big Tree in 1871 for the Warren Wagon Massacre.27 saloons flourished on the north side of the fort.Law and order was for another time.On pay days it was difficult to walk through
the area without stepping on a drunken soldier.Justice rode at your side in a leather holster.

Geography
too held back the frontier.Jack County
is on the western edge of the Cross Timbers, the edge of what Easterners called
the ‘Great American Desert’.The
United States Department of the Interior declared the 98th meridian
that runs through Newport, Cundiff, and Joplin to be the dividing line between
the timbered eastern farm lands and the plains grass region.Here at the edge of the plains, the frontier
halted to await the invention of barbed wire and windmills that made it
possible for settlers to live on the dry plains.

Jack
County got its flavor from the many people and races working in harmony and
often in conflict.The white race
provided numbers of hard-working settlers willing to gamble against terrific
odds and also the unprincipled outlaw driven west from more developed areas of
Texas.The war refugee and the draft
dodgers came.Northern opportunists
came to exploit or just to begin a new life in a new country.Cattlemen were willing to hold their claims
with guns.Blacks came as slaves, servants,
and employees of the whites.Fort
Richardson had soldiers of both races, their wives, families, and camp
followers.Some came to grab the
federal money flowing to Fort Richardson, an American tradition.

And
the native Indians made their presence felt in the most forceful way.Jack County lay on the border of the Kiowa
and the Comanche favored hunting ground which these two tribes fiercely
defended.Fort Richardson’s power was
thrown against them, and they hated the fort and its soldiers.They fought back with the desperation of men
who knew they could lose everything.

The Dean Family Branch to the Hensons

We
will digress here to study this Dean family whose roots trace from Virginia in
the mid 1700s on through Georgia and Tennessee, through Arkansas in the 1820’s,
then into Texas in the early 1830’s at the old river town of Clarksville on the
Red River. Arkansas was separated from Louisiana as part of theMissouri Territory in 1812, then became the
Arkansas Territory in 1819, and was admitted as a state in 1836.

The
earliest records we have are of Jesse Dean born circa 1780 in Virginia.He married Nancy --?—born circa 1780 in
Maryland.She died in 1820.He married again to Betsy Hull March 22,
1821 in Caddo township, Arkansas.Nancy
bore him these eight children:

1..Son Asa born about 1798 probably Tennessee, married Susannah--?-- circa
1820.Died in Texas circa 1844. Two
sons born circa 1820 and 1823. Two daughters born 1825 and circa 1835.The latter child was probably Julia Ann Dean b. June 25, 1836 who
later married Asa Henson.

2..Son Edward born 1800

3..Daughter Sidney born 1805 (in Illinois ?)

4..Son Levi born 1807 in Tennessee

5.Daughter Matilda born 1809

6..Daughter Lucinda born 1811

7.Son Willis Dean born 1814.

8.Daughter Eliza born 1816 (in Georgia ?)

The
older Jesse Dean arrived in 1811 in the land south of the Caddo River, bounded
on the west by the Indian Territory, in the Arkadelphia area. This became Clark
County, known early as Arkansas County of Missouri Territory. He reportedly
received land grants for service in the Indian Wars. This was very sparsely
settled land.In the late 1820’s a
large contingent of citizens gathered in what was loosely called Miller County
in Arkansas, near the Red River.When
the group became large enough and when political conditions were satisfactory,
this contingent planned to move southward into Texas as one of Stephen F.
Austin’s colonies.1830 saw this move.

His
sons Asa, Jesse, and Edward Dean came to Texas between 1830 and March 4,
1836.Asa’s land grant file in the
Texas General Land Office Archives reads that he arrived in Texas October 28,
1835.Another son, Levi Dean, came a
bit later, probably between 1835 and 1837.However, they all hit it right and received large land grants.The first census of the Republic of Texas,
taken in 1840, shows them prospering in Red River County:

-Asa
Dean was taxed on 2,000 acres and 4 work horses.

-Jesse
Dean was taxed on 6 slaves, 25 head of cattle, 3 horses, and $4,605 worth of property.

The
family had been in Jacksboro (Jack City) for about eightyears when Joseph Henson’s son Asa (Ace) met
and married, in 1865, Julian Ann Dean Jay, who came from Paris, Red River
County, Texas with several of her relatives, and her one year old son George
Seman Jay in late1860 or 1861..There
are Confederate muster cards for “the Red River Dixie Boys” of Red River County
for Joseph M., Jessee C., and George W. Jay.Jessee was twenty-eight years old in 1861.Jessee and Julia Ann Dean married in Lamar County just west of
Red River County in 1855.Jessee served
with the Lamar Mounted Volunteers under the command of Captain Milton Webb, in
Ford’s regiment of the Army of the Confederacy under the command of Captain
Milton Webb.Family tradition reads
that Jessee had not returned and was presumed dead by the time Julia and her
son George came west to Jack County about 1861.Julia waited the prescribed period of time for Jessee to be legally
declared dead before marrying Asa.

Julia’s father, Asa Dean died about
1844 and her mother,Susannah, married
Jesse Jay’s father, George Simeon Jay b. 1806 Indiana d. 1856 Lamar Co. Texas,
indicating a close family relationship. Susannah had these children by her Dean
marriage-James A., Artimessa, Levi,
and Julia Ann. Simeon Jay had these children by his first wife- Jessee C.,
George, and Mary F. They had these two children by their second marriage, William
about 1848 and Susan about 1849. Both William and Susan came to Jacksboro about
1860, probably along with Julia Dean. William married Charity Hensley there b.
Oct 13, 1852 Arkansas, d. Mar 6 1872, in Jack County.Susan married Ira Cooper December 29, 1869, settling on a ranch
in Jack County.She was Julia’s
half-sister. They had three children, Irene, Eula, and Annie.Irene married John Ozier of Temple. Annie
married Cal Merchant and lived on a ranch on the Canadian River near the A. L.
Henson family. Cal managed the Turkey Track ranch for awhile.

At their marriage, Ace Henson was a nineteen year old frontiersman and
Julia was aboutthirty years old and a
mother , born in 1836 on the Red River near Clarksville, the oldest American
settlement in Texas. They lost two infant sons, Ira and Robert, and raised
three children in this marriage.

.

The
Clarksville, Texas newspaper ‘The Northern Standard ‘ of February 1843 has the
following excerpts of interest to these times:

“An
elderly lady in her eighties dies of shock from the delusion of ‘Millerism’ as
she views the flames of the conflagration at Cambridge, Massachusetts and the
reflections in the clouds.She shrieks
‘it is the end of the world!’”

“10,000
acres of farm land for sale. Cash or negroes.”

An Austin
newspaper of August1842 has these
excerpts of interest to these times:

“ Houston is
moving the seat of government!This
leaves us open to Indian depredations.Nearly half the population of Bastrop and Travis are preparing to depart
for the U.S. and other parts of Texas.There is no money in circulation.” (This attempted move from Austin to Washington on
the Brazos was caused by the abruptly renewed presence of Mexican soldiers in
the Mission city of San Antonio.The
proposed relocation was thwarted by the 650 residents of Austin.)

:

“Houston
authorized the formation of a corps of 200 volunteers for defense of the Western
frontier.If the Mexican force cannot
be found on this side of the Rio Grande, these troops will pass that stream as
readily as they would the little rivulets of the Cibolo.”

"List of Votes polled at Montgomery
(Montgomery Precinct) on the 4th of June, 1845 for four delegates to a
convention to form a State Constitution for the admission of Texas into the
United States Union and for one County surveyor for Montgomery County."

[from a list of 158
voters]

20.W.T. Morris[Lucinda Thomas' husband]

68.A.W. Springer

69.John Landrum

70.Wm. Landrum

79.A.E. Springer

116.G.W. Brooks

124.Wm. Gilmore

141.Joseph Hinson

144.Jno. M. Springer

Sam Houston...received
107 votes

John M. Lewis...received
63 votes

James Scott...received
63 votes

A. McNeill...received
106 votes

M.C. Rogers...received
50 votes

D.C. Dickson...received
29 votes

G.W. Banton...received
19 votes

Jas. L.
Bennett...received 15 votes

C.B. Stewart...received
120 votes

for County Surveyor:

D.M. Bullock...received
95 votes

John McKary...received
39 votes

Of historical interest,
a letter from Sam Houston to Doctor C.B. Stewart (who received more votes than
Sam in the above election):

To: Doct. C.B. Stewart,
Montgomery TX, 10 Nov 1841

My dear Sir,

At Houston I had the pleasure to receive
your kind favor--for the contents, I am grateful, and am happy to say so.You will see that I am to be at Houston on
the 25th instant.On the 30th my
appointment is to be at your town of Montgomery.Mrs. H. Intends to bring with me.We will be happy to accept the courteous hospitality that you
have so kindly tendered to us.

I will be compelled to visit Galveston in
a few days.My stay will be short at
Houston.I must pass some days on
business previous to the 25th.I hope
to meet many of the citizens of Montgomery on the 30th.I may be thru on the 28th or 9th.

Ladies may attend if they have any wish to
do so.I like to speak to ladies and
their presence makes men behave better to each other and themselves also.Be pleased to commend our regards to Mrs.
Stewart.Salute all friends.About any arrangements to be made I leave
all things to yourself and our friends.

I
am very truly yours,

Sam Houston “

The
lure of the frontier continued and the area around the SW corner of Arkansas
was a hotbed of emotion relative to secession from the Union.Arkansas was to have the dubious privilege
of two governments (both Union and Confederate) at the same time. There was a
group where the Deans lived who called themselves the ‘Red River Dixie Boys’.
Julia married Jessee Jay in Lamar County in 1855 where they had one child ,
George S. Jay, born in 1859. Family tradition reads that Jessee Jay was missing
and presumed dead in 1860.Other
sources believe there was a divorce.Whatever the reason, in late1860 Julia Ann kept the name Jay and put
herself andson George Jay in a wagon
with her brother James and his new wife, and aunt Eliza to come to Jack County,
Texas, far from the pressures of civilization as they knew it.

Against the strong wishes of its
president Sam Houston and many of the people on the frontier, Texas was still
of an independent spirit and opted to secede from the Union.Julia Dean Henson told the story of soldiers
rummaging through her household, taking everything they could including the
last needles and thread. The Texas Brigade distinguished itself in Virginia
during the War Between the States.These efforts depleted the already limited manpower available to defend
and develop the Texas frontier.Even
those with no strong feelings for the Confederacy moved to organize with the
‘Texas Frontier Rangers’. G. A. Dean, George Dean, J. A. Dean, and Levi Dean
were listed on Frontier Ranger muster rolls for this region. Asa L., J.F.,
Joseph, W. M., and William S. Henson were also on these muster rolls to defend
their families.

The
frontier homesteads were in severe jeopardy from the tribes of plains Indians and
in some areas the frontier moved back as much as a hundred miles during
1861-1866.The ‘History of Jack County’ could be a background for many a ‘Western
Tale’.

As the 6th U, S. Cavalry returned
to Fort Richardson at the close of the Civil War, they did not understand the Indians
nor the terrain.In 1868-69, Asa
Henson, Joe Ward, and James R. Robertson were among a small group oflocal civilians to be employed as scouts in
the Kiowa, Comanche, Cheyenne Campaign under General James Oakes, Captain A. Irwin,
and Lieutenant Overton.The Congress
enacted legislation in 1917 that provided for monthly pensions of $13 for those
who had served in Indian campaigns of that period. A feeble Asa Henson and the
above noted two friends were apparently the only surviving members of this group
of scouts and presented their claim on the proper form, accompanied by the
following narrative:

“The State of Texas

County of Potter

Before
me ,the undersigned, James N. Browning, a Notary Public in and for said State
and County,this day personally
appeared Asa L. Henson, James R. Robinson, and Joe Ward, all personally known
to me to be credible witnesses, and each being duly sworn, deposesand says as follows:

The
said Asa L. Henson declares on his oath that he is seventy three years old and
resides at Panhandle, in Carson County, Texas and that he is the applicant for
pension under the Act of March 4, 1917, as a former scout of the U.S.Army. and
his application is numbered 14974; that said James R. Robinson on his oath declares
that he is seventy one years old and resides at Lubbockin Lubbock County, Texas, and is a lawyer by
profession; and said Joe Ward declares, on his oath, that he is sixty eight
years of age, resides at Hereford in Deaf Smith County, Texas, and by
occupation is at this time the duly qualified and acting County Treasurer of
said Deaf Smith county.

That
said three witnesses all declare on oath that they personally know and are
acquainted with the others and they further declare that they all resided at
Jacksboro, in Jack County, Texas, during the years of 1868 and 1869; that the
U, S. Government Post of Fort Richardson was at that time located near said
town of Jacksboro and Gen. James Oakes was the Commanding officer thereof.

That
during the said years the said Government Post and said town were situated on
the frontier of Texas, and the adjacent country for many miles distant in every
direction from said town and Government Post were almost continuously raided
and depredated upon by various tribes of hostile Indians and particularly the
Comanche and Kiowa tribes.In making
such raids, the said hostile Indians would often murder and scalp the ranchmen,
steal and drive off their stock and otherwise harass and annoy the scattering
citizens of the County; that the United States officers and soldiers, stationed
at said Fort Richardson, were unable to prevent said hostile raids and annoying
depredations, in and about the county, on account of their unfamiliarity with
the warfare and customs of these savage marauders.

As
a measure of relief to the ranches and people of the country, these affiants
and Sam F. Stinson, Jack Brown, Henry Callis, William McMillan, Charles
Hensley, Ed. Wolffarth, and perhaps several others, whose names we cannot now
remember, banded themselves together under the leadership of said Ed Wolffarth,
to cope with and resist the frequent incursions of said hostile Indians.After such organization, the said company
had no suitable arms or other equipment for the service intended.So the said named men , with other citizens
of the country, called on said Commanding officer of said Fort Richardson and
requested aid and assistance in their said project.The said officer was willing to render the citizens any assistance
in his power, but he promptly informed them that he had no authority to furnish
guns, ammunition or other supplies.He
stated, however, that if these men, who had organized themselves, would consent
to be sworn into service as Scouts for the Government, and would submit
themselves to do service as scouts and be under command of commissioned
officers of the regular army, that then the government could and would furnish
all needed supplies, pack mules, and arms and ammunition for such scouting
expeditions as might be sent out in pursuit of raiding hostile Indians.This proposition was agreed to and the above
named citizens were sworn in, according to these affiants best recollection, by
one Lieutenant Overton of the 6th U, S, Cavalry, then stationed at
said Fort Richardson in the Spring of 1868 or 1869, but neither of them can
definitely remember the month or the year.

That
within a very short time, but not longer than two or three days, after the said
parties were sworn in as government scouts, an expedition was arranged for an
extensive scouting of the country;that
said expedition consisted of these affiants and said Sam F. Stinson, Jack
Brown, Henry Callis, Michael McMillan, and Ed. Wolffarth, and possibly two or
three others, also Jim Dozier, a noted government scout then stationed at Fort
Richardson, was one of the party, and Lieutenant Overton and a non-commissioned
officer and a private of the 6th U. S. Cavalry accompanied the scouting squad and Lieutenant
Overton was in command thereof.

These
affiants and said other citizen scouts were furnished, by the government ,
Spencer carbines, pistols, ammunition and other equipments for scouting service; that pack mules, camp equipage and a
twenty days supply of provisions for the entire scouting party , were likewise
furnished, and in said Springof 1868
or 1869, the party started one scout; that the scouting squad went west from
Fort Richardson, circled to the Northwest, crossing the headwaters of the West
fork of the Trinity River, the Big and Little Wichita Rivers, returning from a
point near Red River and arrived back at Fort Richardson after an absence of
from twenty-five to thirty days on said scout.

That
on numerous occasions after said first expedition, these affiants were required
to make short scouts in pursuit of hostile Indians, making an actual service of
several scouts altogether.That they
cannot now remember who was the quarter-master at Fort Richardson at the time
of said service, but they verily believe that he was Captain Irvin of the 6th
U. S. Cavalry and stationed at said post.

These
affiants do not remember of ever drawing any pay from the government for their
services, but the same was done for the benefit of the frontier people.

That
so far as these affiants know, the entire party constituting said first expedition
are dead, save and except these affiants.

Signed: Asa
L. Henson

James R. Robinson

Joe Ward

Subscribed
and sworn to by the saidAsa L. Henson,
James R. Robinson, and Joe Ward, before me this 26th day of January,
1918.

Signed: James
N. Browning

Notary Public, Potter County, Texas”

The
Original Act of 1892 provided pension for service in four Indian wars between
1832 and 1842.That Act was amended in
1902 to cover those who served in ten
other Indian wars between 1817 and 1858. It was further amended in 1908 to
cover the services of Texans against Mexican and Indian marauders 1855 to 1860.It was further amended in 1917 to cover
those who served in campaigns against the plains tribes during 1861-1891.

The
official file on Asa’s pension application includes letters from hisCongressman and a Senator, urging the review
process, and numerous internal documents in review of military records.No
records could be found for the officers and quartermaster cited in the claim,
nor for the claimed service.With only
three enfeebled survivors and no supportive official records, the claim for
Indian War pensions was rejected

Back to Joseph Henson

Joseph Henson came to Jack County in the year 1855 and settled on
Carroll Creek, five miles east of Jacksboro, near where the Decatur road
crosses Carroll Creek. The family consisted of father, mother, five boys, W.
L., John, Joe T., Asa L.,and A. J. ; four girls, Lizzie, married Lauderdale;
Julia Ann, married Thomas; Phoebe, married Smith; Margaret, married
Lawrence. Indians killed Lauderdale and Lawrence; Mrs. Smith (Phoebe) dying,
leaving two heirs, Alfred G. Smith and one sister (Sarah J. Lauderdale) who
when grown married Mose Rhoades. The two heirs were reared by Grandpa and
Grandma Henson.

Asa’s sister,
Elizabeth Henson Lauderdale, was widowed November 22, 1867 when her husband,
James S. Lauderdale was murdered and scalped by members of Satanta’s tribe as
he traveled between his log cabin home and that of his neighbor John W.
Brummett, about two miles from Carroll’s Creek.Lauderdale was returning a borrowed wagon and team to Brummett
when the scalping took place.Elizabeth
was left with a large family to support.These children were cared for by Asa and his parents. A Jack County
Methodist publication gives this obituary for Elizabeth Henson Lauderdale,
stating that she ‘died of measles at her
father’s house in Jacksboro, leaving behind six well-trained children, gray
haired mother & sire, & four brothers. She was daughter of Joseph &
Mary Henson, made a widow by the ruthless hand
of the red man about three years ago(actually it was more like 8 yrs).
She was born in Alabama but was raised in Texas.’ One of the Lauderdale
girls, Almira, was adopted by a nearby family, Tuck Cornelius.An irony to the Indian attack was that
living at the home of Asa’s sister Margaret Lawrence, was a seventeen year old
Apache boy named John Watson.John
(Joe) Watson was later shot as an outlaw. James Lauderdale’s cousin J. H.
Lauderdale died March 24, 1861, both of these Lauderdaleswere buried in the Henson cemetery.

Although the Hensons had been raided, harassed, and family members had
been slain by Indians, there was yet more to come.It was not too far in the future when another sister’s husband
would also be slain by Indians.Margaret
Henson’s husband, Joshua G. Lawrence, a carpenter, was out hunting milk cows
along Carroll’s Creek in an early morning fog when he was set upon by Comanches
and Kiowas, and scalped.

There are court documents for Jack
County, 1869-70, dealing with a murder charge against Joseph Henson Jr. in the
death by shooting of a soldier James Barrett from Fort Richardson. The
Jacksboro newspaper ‘The Flea’ of
April 15, 1869 reads “Mr. Henson, who
killed a soldier at this place in November 1867 has been released from the Post
guard house and turned over to the civil authorities, and is under heavy bail
for his appearance at court”.This was
Asa’s brother Joseph Jr.The story
tells of a man who rode up to the Henson log cabin looking for work and, per
frontier custom, was offered a meal.While he was eating, a soldier rode up to a shed whereJoseph Sr. was working and asked if he had
seen this man riding by.When informed
that the man was in the cabin, the soldier dismounted and entered the cabin. On
doing so he shot without warning and killed the man as he was eating and a
bullet passing through the body struck Asa’s mother in the leg.She cried out “He’s shot me!”Whereupon Joseph Jr. came running, and,
seeing the blood on his mother, shouted, in words inappropriate for Sunday
School “You shot my mother!” and tugged his pistol from its holster. The
soldier turned on him with his carbine which apparently misfired and ran out
the door. Joseph Jr. shot several times as the soldier wheeled around trying to
bring his carbine to bear and the soldier fell dead.In Joseph Sr.’s testimony at the trial, he noted that he was too
stove up from old wounds to have participated and Joseph Jr. was on his own
with this armed man who had shot his mother. Joseph was acquitted, according to
the above dates, approximately a year and a half after the incident.”

The
below was the Indictment of Joseph Henson Jr.:

“In
the name and by the authority of the State of Texas, the Grand Jurors for the
County of Jack in the State of Texas, duly elected, tried, impaneled, sworn,
and charged to inquire into an true presentment make of all offenses committed
within the County of Jack, cognizable by the District Court of the said County
of Jack in the State of Texas, upon their oath do say and present unto the said
District Court of the County of Jack in the State of Texas, that Joseph Henson,
late of the County of Jack and State of Texas with force and arms and having
the fear of God before his eyes but being moved and instigated by the Devil, on
towit the twenty-first day of November in the year of our Lord Eighteen Hundred
and Sixty-seven in the County of Jack in the State of Texas in and upon one
James Barrett in the presence of God and our said State then and there being
wilfully, unlawfully, feloniously and of his malice aforethought did make an
assault and that the said Joseph Henson a certain six shooting pistol of the
value of Ten Dollars then and there loaded with gun-powder and six leaden
bullets, which said pistol he the said Joseph Henson in his right hand then and
there held at, to, against, and upon the said James Barrett then and there
unlawfully, feloniously, and of his malice aforethought did shoot off and
discharge and that the same Joseph Henson with the leaden bullets aforesaid,
then and there by force of the gunpowder shot and sent forth as aforesaid, the
said James Barrett in and upon the back of the breast and the side of him the
same James Barrett three mortal wounds, each to the depth of six inches, of
which mortal wounds aforesaid the said James Barrett did die on towit the
Twenty-first day of November in the year of our Lord One Thousand Eight Hundred
and Sixty-seven, in the County of Jack and State of Texas-

And
so the Grand Jurors aforesaid upon their oath aforesaid do say that the said
Joseph Henson the said James Barrett in manner and form aforesaid, wilfully,
unlawfully, feloniously, and of his malice aforethought did kill and murder,
contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided and against
the peace and dignity of the State.

H. G. Thompson

Foreman of the Grand Jury

S.
W. Lanham

Dist.
Atty. 13th Jud. Dist. Texas”

Edna Cunningham, near Conroe, Texas, descendant of Polly Thomas’s
brother Simeon Thomas & Sarah Gilmore Thomas tells a little about the above
story. Supposedly that soldier tried to rape Mary and there were two of the
brothers. She didn't know which one besides Joseph T., but anyway the other one
fled & hid out with Simeon & Sarah. She says she has a tintype of
whichever brother that was and will send it.

According to K. T. Henson , Joseph T. Henson, in the above account, left home
immediately following the killing of the soldier fearing what a military court
would do to him. The War of Northern Aggression had ended not much earlier and
military justice could be swift and one-sided. Joseph T. fled to Missouri where
he may have fallen in with some "bad folks". There were rumors that
he rode with the Younger Brothers for a time. In 1869 civilian law was restored
in Texas and he was able to turn himself in to stand trial in a civil court
where he was acquitted of the murder charge. Joseph T. was married to Caroline
Bridges in 1872. K. T., their fifth child was born 1881.

*On August, 20,1866 President Andrew Johnson proclaimed the Texas insurrection
at an end. However, in the spring of 1867, Radical Republicans gained control
of the Texas Congress and proceeded to upset President Johnson's plan of
reconstruction. The result was that the newly formed Texas government was set
side and military rule was established. Texas Governor Throckmorton and all
other civil officers were removed by the military. This was the political
environment facing 21 year old Joseph T. Henson on the night, in November 1867,
when he shot and killed the Union solider. A new Texas constitution was
ratified in 1869. Records of the Jacksboro newspaper `The Flea` indicate the trial of Joseph T. began in mid-April of
that year.

As the community developed, a Methodist
Church and a school were established on the Carroll Creek property of Joseph
Henson.He and his wife were among the
charter members of this church.

Quoting one of the
family researchers: “James Lauderdale,
the husband of Joseph Henson’s daughter, Elizabeth, was killed by Indians in
Jack Co. in 1867. Lauderdate who had been to Weatherford and unloaded his
supplies during the preceding day, left his home in the morning to return the
borrowed wagon and horse to the home of Wilburn Brummett, a neighbor, who lived
several miles away. Lauderdate lived on Carroll's Creek, about six miles from
Brummett's home. When about half-way between the two places, he was massacred
by the Indians, who took hishorses.Phoebe Ann Henson was married to Simpson
Jones Lauderdale. They had a son, Simpson Joseph, besides the 2 girls. Simpson
Joseph must have died young because in May of 1863, Joseph Henson, Sr. was in
probate court as his guardian. We think Simpson Jones Lauderdale was the cousin
of James Lauderdale who married Elizabeth Ann Henson. Elizabeth could not have
married Whitcherin 1876, she died in
1875.Josh Lawrence, who also lived
on Carroll's Creek, shortly after Lauderdate was massacred, was out one damp,
foggy morning, a short distance from his house, searching for the milk cows. He
was also murdered by Indians. Lawrence was scalped, and buried in the Carroll's
Creek Graveyard.MaryMargaret Henson was married to Watson before
Lawrence. She had a son, I think his name was William Watson, but went by Joe.
He turned out to be an outlaw & was killed for being in a gang. Mary
Margaret had another daughter, Cynthia Elizabeth, besides the 3 you have.
Cynthia married James Wynant. Believe she died in childbirth & the baby
died a few months later. We saw her grave when we visited Jacksboro last yr.
but at that time didn't know who she was. A few yrs. later this James Wynant
married Amira Lauderdale.Have you read
the biography of Alfred Granderson Smith in the History of Jack Co.? It
mentions in there that because of neglect & abuse he left home at an early
age.”

Quoting
one of the family researchers:.“On the l870Fed. Census of Jack Co. TX . Effa , 2 yrs old shows with her
Mother Elizabeth and her older siblings.Elizabethwasthe widow of J.S. Lauderdale.In the book "94 Years in Jack County
l854-l948".,J.S. and James
Lauderdale are listed in the book 4 or 5 times.My Great Great Grandfather's 1st wife Phoebe was widow of Simpson
J. Lauderdale and her maiden name was Henson.The Elizabeth (A)Lauderdale is
her sisterand they were daughters of
Joseph (Joe) and Mary Hensonwho are on
that census also I must have some place found some cemetary records because I
have notedthat Elizabeth A. died 22
Mar.l875. When you find Joe & Mary Henson you will see 2 children living
with them . They were Phoebe"s children , her Lauderdale daughter and her
son by my Gr.Gr.Grandfather , David J.Smith. (his name was A.G.) I think Phoebe
died while David was away in the Civil War..James Lauderdale on 23 Feb l861 voted against secession from the Union
and so did J.S. Lauderdale. J.S. was listed as a Texas Ranger for Precinct No.
1, Jack Co. in Capt. T.F. Roberts Co. I don't know any background on the
Lauderdales , but I know another personresearchingthem and can look
that up for you.I have notes that both
families were in Montgomery Co TX in l840and in Limestone Co. in l850 & l860and a note that says there is a Probate record in Bell Co. TX forE. J. Lauderdale in April l867.”

Ø

Asa Henson and two of his brothers also had
an encounter with Indians.All three
escaped, although one brother was wounded in the leg. The Henson homestead beat
off several Indian attacks.One of the
brothers had a thumb shot off.

William Henson's wife was at home one day
with her two children and she heard a noise outside.Either she went or she sent John to see what it was and it was
Indians.They ran inside and bolted the
entrances to the house.One of the
Indians was carrying a scalp of a blond woman.The mother recognized it as the hair of her best friend, and she was so
shocked that she dropped dead.The
childrenwere not hurt and the Indians
went on their way.

.

These
were regular days in a town on the main stage line for the Butterfield Stage
Line to Santa Fe and California.Charlie Goodnight and Oliver Loving both ran cattle near there when they
made their move to get to good grass and market by a roundabout route to avoid
the Indians and outlaws, thus opening the Goodnight – Loving Trail across the
Pecos, through New Mexico and Eastern Colorado.

After his marriage, Asa Henson operated a
livery stable and developed cattle interests around Jacksboro.He also ran a store for groceries, dry goods,
general merchandise and liquor to go.(In 1867 receipt for $ 20.67 from the United States Internal Revenue for
a Special Tax upon the business of retail liquor dealer.)He purchased this store from Aynes and ran
it under the name of the A. L. Henson Co. until he sold it in 1873.He was the Jack County Tax Collector for
several years.During the difficult
days of Reconstruction after the war, hardly anyone would accept a public
office under Yankee soldiers.He
rendered ex officio services as sheriff of Jack County , one of seven over a
span of four years.

Asa Henson was a prospective juror in the
trial of Santana, Satank and Big Tree, three of the Kiowa charged with the
barbaric Warren Wagon Train Raid in 1871 where the wagon drivers had been tied
to the wagon wheels and burned to death. This trial was held at Fort Richardson
in Jacksboro.

Asa and Julia had these five children:

1.James Isaac Henson, born April 14, 1866 in Jacksboro, died
mid-July 1965 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He married Roseanna Cecilia McQuillan of Belfast, Ireland in 1893 on her
brother’s ranch (the OX brand) along the Beaver River in ‘No Man’s Land’ of
Oklahoma Territory.They had eleven
children, nine of whom reached adulthood. Rosie was born in Belfast, Ireland
November 6, 1870 to Alexander A. and Margaret McQuillan.After several weeks of illness in St.
Francis Hospital, Wichita, Kansas, Rosie died thereMay 26, 1937 and was interred in a Memorial Cemetery in Oklahoma
City where her daughter Marie Wallace lived.

2.Robert Fred Henson, born April 14, 1869 in Jacksboro, died July
27, 1870

3.Ira Jackson Henson, born January 30, 1872 in Jacksboro, died
May 31, 1873.

4.Eula Ann Henson, born March 27, 1874 in
Jacksboro, married WilliamMitchell Goodnight, February 19, 1893
in the Methodist Church of the new town of Panhandle, Texas- she was nineteen
years old, the daughter of a cowman, her husband was a twenty six year old
cowboy with the Matador ranch on its holdings at White Deer, near the present
town ofPampa. He was born in 1867 near
Frankfort, Kentucky and came with his parents and several siblings to the Fort
Worth area in the early 1870s.They had
seven children of whom five reached adulthood.He died in 1931 at Fort Supply, Oklahoma, she died October 10,
1966 in Guymon, Oklahoma.

5.
Louie Ann Henson born February 1881 in Jacksboro, married Asbery A. CallaghanJune 5, 1901 in the Methodist Episcopal
Church of Panhandle, Texas.Asbery was
bornNovember 16, 1878 in Craigsville,
West Virginia and came with his parents to Panhandle in 1890.He graduated from Polytechnic College in
Fort Worth in 1897.Louie died 1961 and
Asbery died October 4, 1966.Both were
buried in Panhandle.Asbery had run a
grocery business, the Callaghan Hotel, and had served as county treasurer,
mayor of Panhandle, president of the school board and county judge.Asbery and Louie
Callaghan had two daughters, Pauline (Mrs. H. J. Friday Hughes ofPanhandle), and Lillian (Mrs. Howard
Anderson of Corpus Christi, Texas).Neither had children. Lillian died May 4, 1954 in Corpus Christi, Texas
at the age of 50.

In the 1850’s a few cattle from Texas were
moved to the Mississippi River enroute to market along the Ohio Valley.Texas cattle fever spread into Missouri,
Illinois, and Ohio cattle.Later drives
were met with growing hostility.Farmers along the way feared the fever invariably carried by hardy and
resistant Texas longhorns.Armed men
killed any cattle the drivers did not turn back.The closing of these trails forced cattlemen to pass west through
Indian Territory, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa, a task that proved nearly
impossible.However cattle that were
selling for $ 3 or $4 a head in Texas would sell for ten times that in
Sedaliah, Missouri, and Texas cattlemen were game to give it a try. A herd of
3,500 head was about as large as a crew and the grass and water could
handle.If delivered in Missouri, such
a herd would net $ 90,000 dollars.Indian raiding during these years halted ‘head-right’ settlement so that
ranching developed freely in the public domain. When the War Between the States
broke out, cattlemen marketed Jack County herds in the first few months by
driving them to Vicksburg, Mississippi and swimming them across the river, but
soon northern gunboats blocked them.The war drove most of the settlers out of the county, but a few
cattlemen held on.There were sixty-one
cattlemen in 1860, but by 1870 only twenty-one remained.After the war cattle raising grew rapidly
over the next twenty years.Indians in
reservation in Indian Territory and those on the open plains tested those
driving cattle.During the ten year
period 1858-1868, Jack County and the adjoining countiesto the northwest lost an estimated 35,000
cattle to Indians (many were Kickapoo) who trailed them across Indian Territory
to Union buyers in Kansas.Those plains
were empty of cattle.

The plains Indians were focussed on the
Texans who were on their ancestral hunting grounds and were hostile to the
movement by Texans of herds through the Indian Territory.Goodnight and Loving blazed a trail westerly
around the Indians into Colorado.In
1867 Indians attacked Oliver Loving and his herd on the Pecos and fatally
wounded him.The following year, his
son James Loving took the Loving herd north through Indian Territory,
accompanied by herds of several other cattlemen of Jack county.They represented themselves as Kansas
citizens in order to avoid attacks from Indians. The cowboy lived a hard and
demanding life.He provided his own
saddle, bridle, spurs, and a ‘hot roll’—a few quilts and blankets rolled in
canvas; the rancher furnished the horses, wild-eyed and barely broken.He braved ‘northers’, ate trail dust, slept
fully clothed on the ground, ate flapjacks of flour and water, drank coffee
made of last week’s beans, and bathed when he stunk so bad that he was
compelled to –if there was spare water.

The newspaper ‘the Frontier Echo’ of July 18, 1875 reads “taken up by A.J. Henson and estrayed before Thos. W. Williams J.P.
Prct. No. 1, one gray mare 14 hands high, 7 years old, branded 8R on its left
shoulder and appraised by Jas. R. Robinson and John Cameron at $30”

The Frontier
Echo of September 18, 1875 reads “A
camp meeting will commence on Carrol’s Creek near Mr. Henson’s on Friday the 24th
instant.Some good preaching and a
pleasant time is expected”.

The issue of December 15, 1876 reads “A little child of A. L. Henson’s met with a
painful accident a few days ago.The
little one was sitting on the floor before the fire when a kettle of hot water
turned over and almost saturated the little one and there was boiled baby in
that house.The little sufferer is
getting along as well as could be expected”.This child was probably their daughter Eula –age 2.

From the files of the Jacksboro Gazette newspaper dated July 23, 1880, “A. L. Henson has returned from Chicago and
reports the cattle market very dull.He
spent a day or two in that city looking at the sights and says it compares
favorably with Jacksboro.”

The Jacksboro Gazette of July 17, 1884 reads
in part “the Democratic primary
convention was held in Jacksboro, the list of delegates to the county
convention includes¼.Will
Henson¼”

This
same issue also reads”The attempt made by a few to call a mass meeting of the
citizens for the purpose of organizing a force of men to drive cattle out of
the county in the direction of the Red River is very much discountenanced by
the majority of our best people.This
scheme is virtually killed in Jack County.”

The book “Trail
Drivers of Texas’ gives these accounts of several trail drives in which
Bill/Will Henson was involvedIt is not
clear if this was Joseph’s nephew, (son of Clement Henson who came to the Hill
Country of Texas about this time) or Joseph’s son.The initials W.T. apparently do not match either but are probably
a misread : quoting R.F. Gilbreath of Devine, Texas “in 1873 we made a drive from Medina County and near Castroville to
Ellsworth, Kansas, crossed the Guadalupe at New Braunsfels, then on to San
Marcos, crossed the Colorado River at Austin, on to Fort Worth, crossed the Red
River at Doane’s Store, on through Pond Creek, Indian Territory to Russell,
kansas, thence to Ellsworth, kansas.They then took another herd on to Cheyenne, Wyoming near Big Spring on
the Platte River when Sam Bass and Joe Collins made a big haul from a train
robbery.The drive crew included Bill
McBee, Quillen Johnson, Bill Henson, Jim Berrington, and three negroes.The trip took about five months.”

Quoting Joe Chapman: “On March 5th 1874, we took a herd of 1,000 head from
Pearsall up the Chisholm Trail , crossing the Guadalupe River at New Braunsfels
in a severe rain storm with thunder and lightning.It was cold.All hands
went to the chuck wagon except W.T. Henson, Old Chief ( a negro) and me.We had to let the herd drift.Took us 2 or 3 days to recover the herd, 30
head short.”

Quoting Jesse Kilgore of San Antonio:“About the last raid made by Indians near Frio City was in 1877, when a
band of redskins passed through the Oge and Woodward pasture 5 miles from Frio
City.Louis Oge, Cav woodward, Bill
Henson, and two Mexicans took their trail, sending one Mexican to town to
notify the citizens and requesting help. Some thought it was a ruse to break up
the dance so did not respond.In the
afternoon, word came that the fight was on with the Indians, men rushed but
arrived too late, leaving 46 head of stolen horses.There were about ten Indians.”

“In
1880 we took a herd of 3,200 head from Mount Woodward Ranch on the Leona River
in Frio County to Ogalla, Nebraska.Billy Henson was the trail boss.Took us 5 months and 10 days on the trip.The boss took sick and had to quit.”

Very early in Jacksboro history, September
1858, it became a station for the Butterfield Stage Line which provided service
to Santa Fe and California twice a week. On one occasion the stage raced its
route in competition with a steamship rounding the lower tip of South America,
as to which would reach San Francisco first.The Stage line won a substantial amount of money by winning this well
publicized race. The Butterfield operated there until the end of the War
Between the States.

28 years later, the railroad still had not
reached Jack County and the issue of the Gazette
of August 23, 1886 notes this advertisement by the Jacksboro & Weatherford
Stage Line: “Reduction in fare: On account of hard times the fare on the stage
line from Jacksboro to Weatherford in the future will be as follows: Jacksboro
to Weatherford $2, round trip $3.On
this route the stage leaves Jacksboro at 7 o’clock a.m. and arrives in
Weatherford in time for the 7 o’clock train, and enables travelers to reach all
points east as soon as by any other route.”Construction of the Texas and Pacific Railroad reached Fort Worth in 1876and reached El Paso in 1881.

The issue of the Gazette of October 7, 1886 reads “The Indians are determined that the whites shall not use their country
for free range any longer.The sheriff
of Cowee Cowee, one of the districts of the Cherokee Nation, passed through
Vinita, Indian Territory with thousands of cattle belonging to United States
citizens.The officers first tried to
drive the stock into Kansas, but the citizens in the state secured the
enforcement of Kansas law against their introduction.But determined not to be outdone they drove over into Arkansas,
where there is no law preventing.In
some instances the intruders had hay put up, and established ranches and made
many other improvements.”

The Gazette
issue of October 14, 1886 quotes a candidate for the office of Sheriff “I came to the area in 1849.It was a wilderness.How did I come?I came from Fort Smith swinging a whip over a government ox team,
my shoes were worn out and I was barefooted, the grass burrs being so bad and I
not being able to get a pair of shoes¼¼I
served as sheriff of Young County for a year and a half (1856) and received $75
in county script”.

There are deeds recorded in Jack County,
transferring, in consideration of $5 in hand, 150 acres of land by Joseph and
Mary Henson to their son Asa Henson in July 1870, also the transfer of 168
acres of land in consideration of $136 to M. A. Lawrence in October 1871, also
the sale of two town lots to James R. Robinson in consideration of a note for
$200 in October 1871, also

the transfer of another tract of land to
their son Asa Henson in July 1869, acreage unclear.

. There are deeds for Jack County,
transferring, in consideration of $5 in hand, 150 acres of land by Joseph and
Mary Henson to their son Asa Henson in July 1870, also the transfer of 168
acres of land in consideration of $136 to M. M. A. Lawrence in October 1871,
also the sale of two town lots to James R. Robinson in consideration of a note
for $200 in October 1871, also

the transfer of another tract of land to
their son Asa Henson in July 1869 acreage unclear.

There are probate records dated April 1888
from Jack County for settlement of the estates of Joseph Henson, who died in
1887 wife,Polly Henson heir and executor,and of J.G. Lawrence brother-in-law Joseph Henson Jr.guardian and
executor, and of J.S. Lauderdale who died 1867 brother-in-law Joseph Henson Jr.
executor and guardian, and of Joseph T. Henson Jr. who died June 1900 wife
Nancy Caroline Henson heir and executor.

Probate of the estate of Joseph Henson
Sr.,January 10, 1888 lists the following property :

-Three
town lots_______________________________$800.—

-Two
town lots _______________________________ $500.---

-Three
pair of blankets @$2.50,One quilt
$0.50_____$8.---

-One
bedstead_________________________________$.50

-One
set of books______________________________ $.50

-Four
chairs___________________________________$1.—

-One
cooking stove_____________________________$10.---

-Four
plates, one cup and three saucers_____________ $.40

-One
old gun__________________________________$.50

-One
table____________________________________$.50

-One
clock @ $3--,One looking glass
$0.05________ $3.05

-Note
on W. L. Garvin @ 12% interest_____________ $ 537.28

-““D. C. Brown“____________$1,194.06

-with credits as
follows:

-Paid
on said notes_____________________________$63.83

-““““_____________________________ $572.06

-““““_____________________________ $143.85

-““““_____________________________ $125.—

-““““_____________________________$77.90

When
his father Joseph died in 1887, Ace’s mother, Polly, was numbered among the
many widows of the veterans of the Texian War of Independence.The State of Texas had honored these widows
by a special 2,000 acre grant to be exercised in the public domain of Texas.After his father’s estate was settled and
the receipt of a 2,000 acre widow’s grant from the State of Texas for his
mother, Asa and his associate Charles Hensley decided to leave Jack county and
enter the final Texas frontier of the high dry plains of the Panhandle of
Texas,where the Panhandle of Oklahoma
was loosely considered a part of the Indian Territory and an outlet for the
Cherokee Nation as it moved back and forth to hunt.Part of Joseph’s family moved to a fork of the Red River only to
later find to their surprise that they were in Oklahoma rather than Texas.

Charles Goodnight established one of the
first ranches in the Texas Panhandle, the JA Ranch in 1876.Thomas S. Bugbee established the first
ranch in Hutchinson County later that year.As a result of soaring beef prices, ranching
proliferated in this region of the United States in the 1880’s.The Texas Panhandle with its open range and
expansive grasslands became the preferred winter grazing site for cattle
migrating south from Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Kansas.This seasonal influx disrupted the practice
of local area ranchers who went to great lengths to respect adjacent ranch
boundaries.Members of the Panhandle
Stock Association pooled their resources and in 1882-85 erected barbed wire barbed
wire barriers along a 200 mile stretch of the Panhandle including Hutchinson
County to prevent cattle from drifting south into the fertile Canadian River
valley.This “drift fence” worked too
well in the winters of 1886-1887 when thousands of cattle drifted south ahead
of strong storms.These cattle stalled
at the fence line and froze or were trampled to death.The staggering losses prompted Federal and
State legislation which limited fencing on public lands and the “drift fence”
was removed or incorporated into private ranch farming

Ace
Henson came to the Canadian River in the Panhandle of Texas in 1887.Times were not good in Jacksboro.Hehadbeen ranching in Jack County, but his father’s death and
, reportedly, some problems in family and the further beckoning of the frontier
led him and his family about 400 miles to the NorthWest..The Plains country had the wide open ranges
he was looking for.The vast herds of
buffalo had been decimated.The
Comanche had all their ponies killed in the Palo Duro Canyon by the U.S. Army
and were on the reservation in white man’s schools.Free range on the Staked Plains of the Panhandle was there for
the taking.He first located in
Hutchinson County, North of the Canadian River on Morse Creek, about six miles
east of the present town of Plemons and ten miles west of Adobe Walls, where
they received their mail and attended the Methodist church.In 1890, the Henson family moved into the
new town of Panhandle.His family
would spend the next twenty years riding to pickup their mail in Adobe Walls,
Mineral Wells, Hutchinson City, and Carson City.Hutchinson City and Adobe Walls became ghost towns.Carson City became the present town of
Panhandle, county seat of Carson County.

The Texas Legislature divided
the Bexar and Young Territories in late 1876 to form the counties of the Texas
Panhandle.This legislation covered the
formation of Hutchinson, Hansford, and Potter counties among others.Years would pass however, before there would
be enough residents in the area to establish county governments and build
courthouses.In the interlude various
support would come from nearby counties.Potter County was organized August 30, 1887 by 53 qualified electors.With the vote of the 38 cowboys from the LX
ranch, Amarillo was elected as the county seat..In 1887, Ace took his son, Jim, engaged a number of cowboys and
drove one thousand six hundred head of cattle from Jacksboro range to the
Canadian River in Hutchinson County as noted above.He had colleagues (relatives)from Jacksboro in the cattle business,
Mr. Harrell and Charles Hensley, who also moved herds into the area of
Hutchinson and Carson Counties. Charles Hensley and Charles Adair were credited
(Trail Life of the Cowman, by E. P.
Earhart) in first driving a trail from Jack to Abilene crossing the Red
River in Montague and the Arkansas at a trading post run by Cherokee Jesse
Chisholm.This became the famous
Chisholm TrailAce worked his cattle
withJim Lachman of the DBL brand.

.These three (Henson, Hensley, and Harrell) partnered as the
Hensley, Harrell, and Henson Cattle Dealers and, in 1890-1891, had nearly
48,000 acres under lease at three cents a year per acre, in Carson and
Hutchinson Counties, extending over into Oklahoma Territory to what is now
Roger Mills County of Oklahoma. Ace partnered the DBL and the 22 ranches and
managed other ranches for groups such as Kent and Wells of Chicago, and the
Rush Creek Land and Live Stock Company, of Central City, Nebraska.He commenced work with T. E. Wells November
1, 1889.

Kent and Wells paid him $2,500 a year to manage their
interests.These two groups paid ten
dollars a head during 1990-91 to Ace Henson for young cattle on board railcars
at Panhandle City.In 1991, the
Nebraska group offered their rights and interests in the area to A. L. Henson
in return for 450 head of cattle between 2 and 6 years old delivered on board
railcars at Panhandle City.This offer
was valid for 11 days following which an offer would be made to the Hansford
Land and Cattle Company..

.Ace kept nearly every receipt, letter, notebook, tally book, and
other business document that he received. The notations are poignant, revealing
lonesomeness while overnight in December on the range.There are various hand written promissory
notes with his father, and several business men.Often most of the words were phonetically spelled.All were honored and, as they were paid, the
signature was torn off and destroyed.At his death in 1925, his daughter Eula had a small trunk where his
gunbelt, photographs, and these documents were stashed. At one time this
included a brochure from the railroads offering alternate sections of land to
settlers along the main line across New Mexico that connected through to
California. Driving across the Canadian River, south of Dumas, Texas, years
later, his daughter Eula would point out, every time, a small mesa north of the
river on the east side of the highway where her father would go to watch over
his cattle.He moved cattle through
Indian Territory, later Oklahoma Territory, and through Canadian, Texas to the
rail head in Kansas.He was the first
sheriff of Carson County and, 1904-06, had passes on all the railroads in
Texas.

Charles Hensley was the husband
of Mary Cooper, whose brother Ira had married Susan Jay, the half-sister of Ace
Henson’s wife Julia. Ira’s son-in-law, Cal Merchant, age 22, helped drive a
herd of O.S. Company cattle in 1887 to the DBL Ranch, then went to work for the
DBL.The DBL was sold to the Turkey
Track Ranch then to a group headed by Mr. Wells from the International Meat
Packing Company of Chicago in 1890-1891 before being swallowed up by a Scottish
Syndicate known as the Hansford Land and Cattle Company).Cal continued there for fourteen years,
first as trail boss to Dodge City for three years, then as foreman at the Adobe
Walls HQ for the ranch.In 1898 Cal
filed on three sections (approximately 2,000 acres) of land in Hutchinson
County, north of the Canadian for which he paid $ 2 per acre.He later bought two additional sections of
land (approximately 1,300 acres) at $ 5 per acre.Ace Henson’s grand-daughter, Louie Goodnight, spent a summer
vacation on this ranch while at business school in Amarillo around 1914 and
maintained a close relationship with the Merchant family..

The
following excerpt is from a Panhandle, Texas newspaper article on Carson County
pioneers:

“In the fall of
1889, Ace brought the other two members of his family, his wife, Ann, and their
two daughters, Eula and Louie to their new home.They came from Jacksboro by train to Washburn and on to
Panhandle.The Plains country put on a
weather demonstration for their arrival; the ground was white with a heavy
covering of snow.The weather was very
cold.

Ace hired a
hack, put hot bricks and warm blankets in it to keep the family warm while
enroute to their new ranch home which was about sixty miles away.Before leaving for the ranch, they stopped
in front of the one drug store and the post office, which were both operated by
Ed Carhart.Typical of the friendly
spirit of the new country, Mr. and Mrs. Carhart came out to the hack and met
Julia Henson and daughters.

The trip to the
ranch took nearly all day.There were
only two wire fences between the town of Panhandle and the Henson Ranch; these
enclosed the ranch on Dixon Creek.

After a long
cold drive Julia Henson saw in the distance a rambling ranch home.Closer view told her the house was made of
adobe brick, with dirt roof and plastered walls.The rooms were like the country they had crossed, wide and
spacious.All eight rooms were very
large.The kitchen and dining room were
together.

Julia Henson’s
room was larger than the other rooms and had a big fire place filled with a
roaring fire.Jim and group of the
cowboys were sitting around the fireplace polishing buffalo horns.The house also had a commissary and numerous
bedrooms. Ace kept a large number of cowboys, and there was a bunk house
provided for them.

“Really my
mother and father were pioneers, Jim, Eula and I had our ways as modern as it
was possible for our parents to make it," said daughter Louie
Callaghan."Even my mother,
though she was among the early settlers in this country knew little of the
hardships that many of the pioneer women experienced.Perhaps my father knew her background and wanted her to love the
wide open country he had taken her to, so he planned and made life as near like
it was in Jack County as it was possible for her and our family”.

Ace brought
Jake, the first Negro to this country.Jake was very loyal to the Hensons.He always addressed the white people as 'Mr. Ace', 'Mr. Jim', always
using a title before the name.When
round-up time came Jake went with the chuck wagon.However, Ace had another one of the boys trained to help around
the Henson home.His extra helper, a
German man, was entrusted with the responsibility of killing and curing the
meat, rendering the lard, making the supply of hominy in the big hoppers, as
well as taking Jake’s place he went with the chuck wagon.He also used his ingenuity and made barrels
of home-made grape wine from the wild grapes that grew on the river.

Ace bought in wholesale lots.The commissary was stocked with barrels of flour and sugar and cases of
coffee, the Arbuckle kind.“I was so
small that one of my most vivid memories was going into the commissary and
opening the packages of coffee to get the prizes they contained.Jake was really angry with me for opening
the coffee,"Mrs. Callaghan said.

"My mother”,said Mrs. Callaghan. “was a wonderful
woman.In later years I have wondered
just how much mother missed the friends, her home, her church and the much more
cultured way of life that she had left behind her.She knew that her husband was a real cattleman and these vast
acres was just what he needed and wanted, so she never complained or murmured
about the new way of life.If she were
lonely for the old home or disappointed with the new one, no one ever guessed
it."

At the time the
Ace Henson family came to their ranch, Panhandle was a very small town.There was only one house between Panhandle
and the ranch, a place on Dixon Creek.There were the Paul Bank; a feed store owned by J. E. Southwood; John
Young, a Scotchman operated a general merchandise store; a hotel; a livery
stable run by Will Coon; the school house; the courthouse; 2 saloons; and no
churches.All social life and church
life centered on the court house.

Mrs. Callaghan
was at one time one of four children in Hutchinson County.There were Mr. and Mrs. Carter who had three
small children.Mr. Carter died and
Mrs. Henson cared for the three children until their father made plans for
them.

Mrs. Callaghan
says her mother was very happy when Rev.Sells, a minister in the Methodist Episcopalchurch, came to Panhandle and led the people in constructing the
first church building. The church really belonged to the people, for everyone
gave money for the erection of the building, the saloon keepers, the gamblers,
the cowboys, the church people.Almost
everyone contributed something.

One of the
outstanding social events during this time was a dance held at the Ace Henson
ranch.People had come to the plains
because they wanted broad acres, so they did not let long distances handicap
them.People came to the dance from
Liberal, Kans., Beaver, Okla., Canadian,Amarillo, and Panhandle.Among
the guests was Miss Rose McQuillan, formerly of New York, N. Y., who had come
to live on her brother’s ranch at Beaver County, Okla.The music was furnished by Jess Wynne, of
Panhandle, Tom McQuillan, and John Haggart.Sheriff T. N. Adams came with his bride, the former Kate Farlow.

The guests were
served in the early evening when they arrived.At midnight a sumptuous dinner was served.They danced all night and were then served breakfast before they
departed.The people were widely
scattered, so when they did get together they made a real affair of their
social gathering.

Miss McQuillan
was a very accomplished musician, and Ace persuaded her to come to his home as
a governess and music teacher for his daughter Louie.

Perhaps the
greatest worry of these pioneers was when illness came.At first a doctor was not available and as
they did come later, the first ones were called ‘horse doctors’.One winter several of the cowboys became ill
with what people in those days called la grippe (influenza).Mrs. Henson gave them quinine and whiskey;
soon all had recovered.Later she
learned this was the doctor’s remedy.

At another time
Julia Henson was very ill and Cal Merchant swam his horse across the Canadian
River in order to reach Panhandle and get medicine for her.The treacherous Canadian quicksands always
had to be dealt with and this time it was a factor when illness came.

Later the
family moved to Panhandle in order to be accessible to school. Ace bought a
house east of the Assembly of God church; it is one of the landmarks still
standing.The townfolk were impressed
when Ace had the first lightning rods installed on his house.The Carhart’s home was at that time just
across the street from them.

Mrs. Callaghan
always had a warm feeling for the first little church built in Panhandle.It came as a loving gift from all the
people, so its dedication was real and sacred. For years she was organist of
the church.

Ace’s first
daughter, Eula, (Louie’s mother) was married at this church. Their attendants
were: Frank Elston, father of Mrs. Letha Gramer; Jessee Jay’s grandaughter
Annie Cooper, who later became Mrs. Cal Merchant, of Clarendon; Tom Cleek;
Olive Coffer, who became Mrs. Lucien Sellers; Willie Cooper , who is now Mrs.
Roy Carhart; and Roy Carhart.”

Ace was a
steward and trustee of the First Methodist church.He was the first mayor of Panhandle, served two terms as Sheriff
and tax collector and was for many years a member of the school board.He was also agent for the Lone Star
Commission Company for many years.During his tenure as the first sheriff of Carson County, Ace had free
passes on all the railroads serving Texas.His cattle business took him to the conventions in Kansas City, to all
the towns, big and modest, along the trail.While in Woodward, Oklahoma Territory, he received a letter from his
family including scrawled notes from his children and a note from his wife
informing him that their youngest daughter, Louie, had been confirmed in the
Methodist Church.He responded along
these lines ‘Louie girl I’m proud of you.I know you’ll do your best.Write to me again, I’ll be stayin in Dunn’s Saloon.’

Jim was sent off on
the train for a year or so at university in Buffalo, New York.He won attention for his Western garb as he
left the train.Within a short time he
sent home a studio photograph from New York City posed in very elegant
clothing.

Roseanna Cecilia McQuillan came
from Ireland in 1888 to visit her family, several of whom had settled on the
Beaver River in No Man’s Land of Oklahoma Territory.An educated woman was a rarity in the region and she found
employment for several years in teaching the children of the ranch families.She commenced teaching school at the A. L.
Henson ranch on Tuesday, the 19th of November 1889. Jim Henson
married this young lady a few days before her twenty-third birthday in November
1893 in the home on theranch owned by
her brother, Jim McQuillan, just downstream from the present trestle over the
Beaver in the now ghost township called Buffalo.This was the first Catholic wedding in the area and Father Bagley
came from Kansas City for it. Jim McQuillan and his sister Margaret McGinnis
were the hosts.The Henson family and
Bill Goodnight traveled 70 miles by horse from Panhandle and Tommy McQuillan
played the violin for the dancing.Jim and Rosie set up their home on Palo Duro
Creek in Hansford County.Her brother
Tom McQuillan (author of numerous early Guymon area photos) had a brief
interlude in Denver but is noted in the Census of 1900 as being in
Hansford.There he met Mary Ann, a
young Irish woman, soon to become his wife. Jim Henson served as County Judge
for Hansford County. Many of Jim and Rosie’s eleven children were born
there.In 1904, the
Henson and Goodnight families packed wagons and moved with their milk cows to
the young town of Guymon, where the children started public school. Nine year
old Louie Ann Goodnight rode her pony and looked after the milk cow. The trip
took two or three days.Jim
started a chicken farm on the Beaver North of town,operated the Senate Saloon on Main Street (that became the Senate
Smokehouse and Pool Parlor after Prohibition).He also served as Sheriff of Texas County and as Tax Assessor.

.

In 1905, they bought the
southern three lots on the East Side of block 500 of Main Street from Rosie’s
brother John for $105.The streets were
unpaved and there were board sidewalks. Later that year Jim and Rosie took a
$1,750 mortgage and built a house for their large family.In 1916 and 1920 they took additional
building loans from the Texas County Bank and Rosie’s sister Elizabeth
(Lizzie).Their growing family of nine
surviving children needed all the space they could manage.The family loved this house and, as
downtown Guymon grew, they moved the house to 808 N. Quinn Street next to
Rosie’s sister, Lizzie O’Neal, and sold the old site in 1922 to the Masonic
Lodge for $6,000.

Rosie taught her children to
play music.This home became the center
of an extended family of several dozen who would gather each year for
Christmas, sleeping on the stair landings and spread on the floors and
beds.Music was made every time they
were together. The house would fill with laughter. Margaret would sing while
Henrietta played the violin and Harriet played the piano. The family always
found the smallest of things to be of interest.They had a wit about them that was different than most.Harriet’s daughter, Mitty Mohon remarks that
she sees it in all of the eight children of Harriet and in her cousins too. The
house was sold around 1965 and moved to an unknown location. Rosie died 1937 in
Wichita, Jim 1965 in Oklahoma City.

And now meet these character
children; all the handsome and beautiful offspring of a genial saloonkeeper on
the frontier, before Prohibition: They were occasional visitors to their
cousins in the Bill Goodnight family. The three sons attended Guymon High
School.The six daughters attended St.
Mary’s School in Wichita and Mount St. Mary’s Cathedral School in Oklahoma
City.

1.Margaret Ann,born 1894, died 1982. Married Richard Cottrell of Plains,
Kansas, who had a drug store in Plains, a Chevy agency in Liberal, and
investments in land holdings.They had
two sons Richard Jr. (Dickie), and Billy Ray.Dickie married Willa Rae Wolfe and served in the South Pacific during
the war. Their children include Marc, and Kirk. Bill married Elsie Clark.They had five children: Bill Jr., Rex,
Susan, Diana, and Vance.

2.Rose Marie, born
1896, died 1990.Worked in the early
days office of the County Clerk of Texas County, Oklahoma.By 1921 she was working at the State House
in Oklahoma City .Moving on to the
Oklahoma Supreme Court she met and married widower W. Robert Wallace, legal
counselor to the Kerr-McGee Oil Company and subsequently a Federal Judge in
Oklahoma City, no children.They are
buried in Oklahoma City.

3.Evaleen Gertrude, born
1897, died 1965.She began as a
businesswoman in young Guymon and later in Denver.She hadseveral
beaus but did not marry. Buried in Oklahoma City.

4.James Ira, born 1900, died 1954.He was tall and handsome, married Audrey,
was proprietor of a nightclub in Corpus Christi. Died 1954.Had one son, Jim, who lived in Oakland,
California

5.Asa L. (Ace), born 1899, died August 30,
1964, first marriage to Velma, second marriage to Julia in Denver. In his youth someone tried to steal his car
in Guymon and Ace jumped onto the car to thwart this.This action cost him a leg.He had one wooden leg when I met him in 1947 in Denver.He offered me a ride to Guymon (350 miles)
and I accepted.He had a bottle of
whiskey in the seat beside him all the way and the accelerator as near the
floorboard as he could manage. I never rode with him again.He was living in Denver at that time and ran an engine rebuilding service there.He was often prone to exaggerate and his
cousin, Louie Goodnight Adams, said he was the biggest liar she ever knew.He had a son, Asa Jr., who became an airline
pilot with United Airlines, married and had six children.

6.Charles Thomas
(Omer) born
1904, died 1969, married Edna.They
made their home in California and had two children, Rosemary and Charles Thomas
(Omer) Jr.Omer Jr. served in the Navy
and on the Fresno police force.He
married Nancy Epstein and they had three sons and four daughters.He died in 2000.

7.And 8. The twins, Harriet Elizabeth and
Henrietta Isabel, Harriet
was born 1908 and died in 1999. Henrietta was born 1908 and died in 1965.These twins were full of talent and also
full of life.They played the piano and
violin and performed in movie houses such as the Miller Theater and the Orpheum
in Wichita.Harriet loved horses.When she was a young girl she would go into
the stables in Guymon and saddle up a horse and go riding.Of course when she got back the owner of the
stables had reported the horse as stolen.Her father was there taking the report when here comes Harriet on the
horse.When Papa confronted her about
taking the horse, Harriet said ‘Oh Papa, I didn’t steal the horse or take the
horse, I would never do a thing like that.I was only borrowing the horse for a couple of hours to go riding.’She then turned to the owner of the horse
and said “Here sir, you have a fine horse and thank you for letting me borrow
your horse for a great ride”.Papa said the owner smiled and said “Oh little girl you are welcome and
I’m glad you enjoyed your ride”.After
that Papa bought her a horse and she named him “Doogie”.. After that she would ride her horse down
to the Beaver River to visit her Aunt Lizzie and Uncle Paddy O’Neal.Most of the time she would spend the night
with them and ride back the next day.She also rode to the chicken farm on the Beaver to see Papa whenever he
was there. When Harriet was eighteen she drove Aunt Maggie McQuillan to New
York and Niagara Falls to see the McQuillan family that still lived there at
the time.My Mama (Harriet) told me
about the rubber tires that they had on the cars and what the roads were like
on that trip.She said it was a great
experience for her as well as for Aunt Maggie.Aunt Maggie died the following year, leaving her little car to
Harriet.How special.Harriet Elizabeth married James Swingley in
the big house in GuymonThey made their
home in Wichita, Kansas.Children were
Evaleen Rose, Marie (Mitty) Mohon of Irving, Texas, Margaret, Mary Kathleen,
James, and Asa.Harriet died in Mitty’s
home in Irving, Texas, March 4, 1999.

Henrietta Isabel married several times, lastly to Elmer Johnson.She died in 1954.

9.Lorena Elizabeth
(Bish) born
July 22, 1909 Guymon, Oklahoma, married Edward G. Troje as hereturned from the Navy at the end of World
War II, they have two daughters Margaret Mary (Maggie)Haven and Patricia Ann (Patty) Sisk.Bish died in Denver, Colorado August 14,
1999.She was called Bish by all her
siblings or more commonly ‘Baby’ or ‘Baby Sister’ all her life.Her nieces and nephews called her ‘Aunt
Sister’.

The
following excerpt is from a Guymon, Oklahoma newspaper article of 1953 on Pioneer
Queens

“OLD TIMERS HAVE THEIR QUEEN,
IT’S EULA HENSON GOODNIGHT”

Eula Henson Goodnight of Guymon has
been selected as the “Old-Timers Pioneer Day Queen”, Tom Houser, chairman of
the old-timers committee said Friday.

Mrs. Goodnight succeeds Mrs. Helen Booth Forman of Guymon , last year’s
queen.She is the daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Asa L. Henson and was born on March 27, 1874 at Jacksboro, Texas.She came to the Texas Panhandle when 15
years old.

Her father “Uncle Ace” Henson, had
moved his cattle to the High Plains in 1887, locating on the old D.B. L. ranch
on the Canadian river, ten miles west of Adobe Walls, and moved his family to
the ranch in 1889.

She and her brother,Jim Henson, spent their time in riding the
range helping with the cattle.Her
special job was to ride to Adobe Walls once each week to get the mail.

Education during that day and time was not neglected, however, Mrs.
Goodnight’s father obtained the services of Miss Rosa McQuillen of New York
City, who was visiting her brother, Jim McQuillen, on the Beaver.

Miss McQuillan became a private
tutor, teaching “books and music” to Misses Eula and Louie Henson, and later
became the bride of Jim Henson, their brother.

In 1891 the Hensons moved to
Panhandle. Texas, 30 miles East of Amarillo.Square dances were held in the Carson County court house with people
riding in from miles away with their families for these wonderful social
occasions.Eula soon met a harmonica
playing cowboy with the Matagorda ranch who called these dances.

February
19, 1893, Miss Eula Henson married this harmonica playing cowboy,William M.
Goodnight, at Panhandle.The couple had
seven children, two of whom died in infancy.Their oldest son, Harry, died in 1941.

Bill and Eula Goodnight moved to the
Palo Duro creek in Hansford County, Texas in 1900.This tested her mettle as a real Pioneer.When her husband had to leave to freight
their supplies from Channing with a six-mule team and wagons, she had to stay
at home alone with her children.Rattle
snakes, coyotes, sickness and hard living were encountered.

Mr. and Mrs. Goodnight moved to
Guymon in 1903, comingin covered
wagons.It took two days to make the
trip with their children, baggage, and a milk cow.Bill ran a dray freight service there and held several county
jobs related to serving the local cattle industry including county weigher and
hide inspector.About 1922, Bill and
Eula moved to Amarillo, Texas to be near their family.Bill served in the Amarillo Police
Department until his death in 1930 in hospital at Fort Supply, Oklahoma.One of his pocket journals while on the
police force notes interesting tidbits on what he saw during that period.

After Bill Goodnight’s death she
made her home with her daughter, Mrs. Louie Adams, initially in Hooker,
Oklahoma then, from mid- 1942 to her death in October 1966, in the Adams family
home at 816 N. Ellison , Guymon, Oklahoma.She is buried in Elmhurst Cemetery in Guymon.Other surviving children were James Goodnight of San Francisco, California;
Mrs. Helen Oliver of Amarillo, Texas; and Jack Goodnight of Great Bend ,
Kansas.

Attachment A -

Preserved Paper Records of the A. L. Henson
Family on File with the Plains Museum in Canyon, Texas.Partly Recorded in the Document Section of the
Photograph Section of the History of this Family.

File Reference-Date -Description-Persons named
-Location

2.1837 Affidavit of service in volunteer army
of Texas - 3 months service, March 12 to June 12 through the battle of San
Jacinto and the capture of General Santa Ana - $ 24 pay -Joseph Henson

3.1838 Military Bounty 320 acre Land
Certificate – Joseph Henson

4.1855 Claim for 320 acre Bounty Land-Joseph Henson

5.1855 Survey for exercise of Headright of one
league and one labor of public land, 4,600 acres, granted by the Republic to
those who came early to Texas-Joseph Hensoncame to Texas in December 1833-survey made on Carroll Creek, Jack County, Texas

46.3/6/1884Receipt of payment by A. L. Henson to register one horse
with the Protective and Detective Association of Texas

47.6/26/1884Receipt of payment by A. L. Henson of $ 10.50 for Jack county
taxes on 772 acres owned by Daniel Crenshaw.

48.11/1/1884Deposit slip for $ 360 by A. L. Henson in First National Bank
of Weatherford, Texas

49.6/26/1884Receipt of tax of $ 71.06 paid by Joseph Henson on 979 acres
in Jack County

50.7/7/1884Copy of report to the court of Jack County on the condition
of the estate of J. G. Lawrence as operated by Joseph Henson, guardian for his
nieces and nephews who were orphaned by the Comanches.7/ 6 /1887 Final settlement

51.8/21/1884Receipt of tax of $ 55 paid by Ace Henson on a town lot of
4/5 acre in Mineral Wells, Texas

54.9/1/1885Receipt of $ 42.36 Jack County taxes on lands of James
Hughes, and A. J. Henson.- Jacksboro.

55.1/2/1886Life insurance policy for $ 5,000 on the life of A. L.
Henson, annual premium of $ 162.35–
Written by St. Louis office of New York Life Insurance Company..

56.2/6/1886Bill of sale denoting cash and promissory note for a total
of$8,577.66 payment in purchase by A.
L. Henson of all cattle and saddle horses in King, Jack, and adjoining
counties, of brand belonging to the three McKeehan brothers and the estate of
T. C. Rector.

57.3/15/1886Receipt of $ 190.50 Jack County taxes on lands of Joseph
Henson, Thomas Burbridge, Daniel Crenshaw, James W. Bates, David Rolan, and
William Williams – Jacksboro.

58.4/2/1886Receipt acknowledging two days work on road in Jacksboro by
A. L. Henson.

59.4/7/1886Promissory note by Robert Cator for $ 90 at ten percent in
the purchase of a yoke of work cattle, yoke, and chain .This note conveyed to Robert Hunt and J. M.
Sanford, then to F. Arthers (sp) and Robert L. Hunt, then to A. L. Henson and
F. Arthers, and finally to Wells and Kent.. –Written at Zulu, Hansford County,
Texas.

60.10/22/1886Warranty deed of sale of property in Jack County by A. L. Henson to Sil
Stark at a price of $ 1,000.Deed
registered at Jacksborough.

63.6/20/1887 – 4/1894 Documentaion of Polly
Henson claims on State of Texas for bounty land certificates and pension
stemming from service of her deceased husband, Joseph Henson, in the Texian War
of Independence 1836

64.7/8/1887Certificate of Witness Attendance in District Court, Jack County in
acase between A. L. Henson and W. H.
Hoffman Implement Co.The witness was
present in court six days and traveled 32 miles.The witness received $ 7.12 for his service.

65.7/29/1887Receipt of sale of one cow to A. L. Henson for $ 30. Jack
County

66.10/28/1887Letter from his wife and two daughters to A. L.Henson, demonstrating
that they were learning to write.

67.12/26/1887Receipt of $ 1.50 from A. L. Henson for 12 month subscription to the
Jacksboro Sentinel.

68.12/29/1887Receipt of payment of $ 21.67 taxes in Jack County for Wm. Williams,
Jos. W. Bates, David Rolandon 551
acres of lands.

69.3/14/1888Receipt of payment of $ 16.23 in Mobeetie,Wheeler County for
T. E. Jenkins on 140 acres.

70.1/28/1889Receipt of $ 14.31 in payment of Wheeler County taxes on 640
acres of land owned by Thomas E. Jenkins.Written in Mobeetie.

71.No date.Loose tally pages for the 22 brand cattle in Hutchinson
County on the Canadian river. Also a business card for an outfitter in Kansas
City, Missouri.

72.2/9/1889Certificate of witness attendance in County Court, Jack
County in a case between John Hensley and Joe Sherman.The witness, A.L. Henson, was present in
court five days and received $ 5.

73.1/2/1889Receipt of$ 8.77
in payment of Jack County taxes on 571 acres of land owned by William Williams,
J. W. Bates, and David Roland.Written
in Jacksboro.

74.3/16/1889Receipt of
$ 5.45 in payment of Hansford County taxes on a town lot in old Hansford.

75.6/17/1889Telegram to A. L. Henson from Thomas Wells of Chicago instructing him to
round up and brand calves, delivering them to Persinger at Panhandle.The telegram postulates an emerging stronger
role for Persinger.See Persinger
correspondence from Nebraska Central College of July 1890 at folders # 77 and
#82..

76.no dateAbstracts of title in Hutchinson County, prepared on
stationery of the C.C. Woolffarth Ranch, P.O. Estacado, Crosby County,
Texas.and stationery of the Tax Collector for Crosby County.Also several holdings in various counties
are noted on stationery of Sporer, Spiller, and Eastin – land agents in
Jacksboro.

77.No date.A desk blotter overprinted with a calendar and advertising
of a commission merchant, Ben L. Welch and Co., in Kansas City, Missouri.

78.1/17/1890Receipt of $ 14.06 in payment of Jack County taxes on land owned by
David Rowland and David Bates.

79.3/12/1890Receipt of $ 50 by W. A. Huffman Implement Company from A. L. Henson in
part payment of judgement against him in Jack County Court. Refer to folder
#61.

80.3/11/1890Receipt of payment for a one year subscription to the weekly edition of
the Fort Worth Gazette by A. L. Henson of Adobe Walls, Hutchinson County.

81.6/18/1890Receive from A. L. Henson , as the property ofMessrs. Wells and Kent of Chicago, Illinois, two hundred and
thirteen cows with calves at their side and three hundred and sixty other
cattle of Messrs. Wells and Kent, being in all nine hundred and eighty.Also eight horses with above.Signed by A. R. Persinger

82.7/12/1890Two page typewritten letter from A. R. Persinger to A. L. Henson
developing at length the arrangements for handling the ranching interests of
Wells and Kent.

83.8/26/1889 to 11/12/1890.A. L. Henson checkbooks on the Smith and
Walker Bank in Amarillo, Texas.

85.11/22/1890Receipt for purchase of a suit of underwear by Henry Neal at a cost of $
2.90 and similar receipts for purchases of goods for other cowboys of the 22
ranch, to be paid by Henson, Harrell, and Hensley to John Young in Panhandle,
Texas, “a dealer in general Supplies for Ranchers and Everybody, Pays Highest
Cash Price for Hides, Bones, Fur, and Wool”.

86.12/1/1890 documents leasing approximately
47,400 acres of land in Hutchinson County for 3 cents per acre annually, to a
firm of cattle dealers composed of Asa L. Henson, and his relatives William
Harrell and Charles Hensley.Also copy
of review of this lease in County Court of Potter County, Amarillo, Texas, in
October of 1892, for falling behind in payment.

87.1891Small notebook ledger for A. L. Henson..

88.4/17/1891Letter from the General Land Office in Austin to J. G.
Williams in Pnhandle, Texas advising concerning ownership of a tract of land in
Hansford County.

89.4/25/1891Letter from Jennie H. in Amarillo to A. L. Henson.“I would like to see you on very important
business. Can you come over tomorrow ?I guess you can imagine what I want to see you about.About that widow.”

90.5/4/1891Letter from A. R. Persinger, General Manager of the Rush
Creek Land and Livestock Company in Central City, Nebraska to A. L. Henson,
developing terms on whichtheir
ranching interests might be conveyed to Mr. Henson..

96.1/20/1893Trustee Deed written in Cheyenne, County F, Oklahoma
Territory conveying a township lot to A.L. Henson.

97.5/13/1893 Receipt of $ 10.33 Carson County
taxes paid on town lot by A. L. Henson.

98.10/6/1893Promissory note in Jacksboro for $ 303.56 by A. L. Henson to be paid to
the order of Eduard Eastburn at Wilson and Stewarts – 215 North Walter Street,
Philadelphia.

99.11/17/1893Warranty deed of property in Panhandle, Texas for sum of $ 300 by Asa L.
Henson and his wife Julia Ann Henson to their daughter, Eula A. Goodnight

100.11/20/1893Bill to Mrs. A. L. Henson for purchase of
$ 45 worth of clothing for her daughters Eula and Louie during the months of
January and February, 1893.from F. H. Hill-DryGoods-Panhandle, Texas..

101.5/21/1894
and 7/6/1894 – Two Promissory notes, in sum $ 77, in favor of Usher and Pugh by
A. L. Henson, Tobe Oden, and John Allen.Payable at the Exchange Bank, Woodward, Oklahoma.

102.6/2/1894Business proposition letter from ?.B. Jones of Athens,
Texas.Obverse of the letter has a
handwritten medical prescription in pencil

103.7/2/1894Tax receipt to A. L. Henson for payment of $ 11.93 on two
acres valued at $1,047.Carson County,
Texas.

106.4/26/1895Receipt of $ $ 6.93 Carson County taxes paid
on one acre of land in Panhandle, Texas by A. L. Henson.

107..
9/15/1895Life insurance policy in
amount of $2,000 written by the Supreme Lodge of the Knights of Honor on the
life of A. L. Henson. Jacksborough

108.2/19/1896Receipt of $ 8.01 for Carson County taxes
paid on one acre of land in Panhandle, Texas by A. L. Henson

109.5/3/1901 –
4/4/1906Correspondence and powers of
attorney to A. L. Henson concerning obtaining clear title and negotiations on
price of Dean family lands.Letters to
J. A. Dean from Lennox and Lennox – Attorneys in Clarksville, to A. L. Henson
from Edwards and Morrison Attorneys, and from Ed Edwards in Clarksville.

110.1/6/1903-- Receipt of $ 8.51 for Carson County taxes
paid on two acres of land by A. L. Henson.

111.2/26/1904In his capacity as Sheriff of Carson County,
A. L. Henson, sequestered 56 head of horses, understood to be recovered for the
First National Bank of Waverly, Kansas versus L. B. Watkins..This document is
an agreement by the bank to hold A.L. Henson safe from any damages or
judgements pursuant to this sequestration.

112.2/27/1905Accident and Sickness Benefits Policy
written on Sheriff A. L. Henson by the Pennsylvania Life and Accident
Association.

113.5/19/1906Warranty of North American Lightning Rod
Company on installation at home of A. L. Henson in Panhandle, Texas.

114.2/6/1907Summary Statement from the Controller’s
Office of the Tax account for Carson County.

115.2/6/1907Refund to A. L. Henson of $ 17.79
overpayment of taxes to the State Controller while serving as tax collector for
Carson County.

116.11/16/1905
and 1908Fire insurance policies issued
by the Mecca Fire insurance Company of Waco on the dwelling of A. L. Henson in
Panhandle in the amount of $ 600.

117.8/2/1909
application and award of a pension for service in Alabamaduring the Civil War to J. G. Henson of
Marengo County, Alabama, living in Howth, Waller County, Texas since 1871.Apparent cousin of A. L. Henson.

118.7/1913Assignment of a commercial fire insurance policy on a business premise
and stock in Panhandle, Texas, written by The Globe Fire Underwriters, to A. L.
Henson.

119.9/14/1917
Application of A. L. Henson for Federal pension of $13 a month for services in
the Indian Wars during 1868-69, as a scout for the 6th U.S. Cavalry
out of Fort Richardson, located at Jacksboro, Texas.There were three survivors at this date and no records could be
found.The application was very
carefully reviewed and rejected.

120.1919 -
1921Statements of A. L. Henson
account in the Panhandle Bank and the First State Bank of Panhandle.

121.1921Statement of A. L. Henson account in the
National Bank of Commerce in Amarillo.

122.1953
Invitation to golden wedding anniversary of Will Henson in Carter,
Oklahoma.